PM to join To Answer the Thunder (Naiya)

[Amunet]

4th day, summer season, 515 A.V.
South southeast of the Endrykas 'Run'



Oh there was another treasure. Her eyes spotted the bluish flower in the undergrowth of the grasses as she made a bee line towards it. Coming to a stop she was off of the mahogany bay mare and down to inspect the small blooms. The bright blue star like blooms could very well blend into the blue green of the grasses if you didn’t know what to look for. This combined with a small white flower was very useful for many things. The small white flower that smelled of fruit often and its cousin that makes a brilliant yellow dye are often bed fellows together in the same location. Amunet noticed that some herbs that had similar properties or complimentary properties often grew close together. It was as if the Gods themselves prescribed these circumstances. Maybe it was just her that noticed these little things with the balance of the land and those treasures that helped keep the body strong and healthy. Nonsense, she would chide herself, it’s a vanity to think she was the only one to think this way. It was a simple fact that she didn’t have anyone to really talk to in regards to these deeper topics.

The leaves and blooms of this brilliant blue star flowered plant made a tea that helped calm nerves. Not necessarily a sedative but had a mild soothing quality. To those who were upset or distraught, this tea would help ease them back into a more reasonable frame of mind. These will make valued additions to the household herbal supplies. Amunet knew that the healing tents would find value in these herbs as well. Maybe it would grant her the chance to study with the healing tent.

The industrious girl went to work carefully picking a couple off one and then another. She worked diligently to pick only a few flowers taking care to make sure that there were plenty of blooms to reseed for next summer season. It was careful work as she progressed further down this section of the grass and low brush. The girl even spied berries. What a treat to bring back. That was the next task and a different bag that had a basket in it to put the berries in. the bag may end up crushing the delicate fruits.

It wasn’t so much she was a thoughtless girl. She wasn’t. Amunet didn’t want to squander this moment of luck. The thunder that peeled in the distance she took as a good sign that the god of thunder was watching. The innocent girl smiled up at the stormy clouds in the distance. There was something about storms that raced in her veins and sparked her eyes. The girl loved storms. There were those who thought she was a nutcase when she would go out and twirl in the warm downpour even when it was lightning and thunder all around. The storm was in the distance so she could watch it without getting into trouble.

Her bags were nearly filled to the brim with edibles and herbal finds. There was always just one more thing to get. One more thing her quick eye would find and locate. She loved the grasslands. There as a certain freedom to riding out here. There were dangers no doubt but the wind in your hair and it singing in your ear as you race by. There was no feeling like it anywhere her young mind could think of.

Back at the city the growing concern of her Pavilion went to seek a tracker to locate the wayward herbalist. Normally they would wait for her return as this was fairly normal. The omen made everyone skittish and the Shimmerstone Pavilion rather have all of their members close by for a few days. A messenger would find their way to the Dawnwhisper Pavilion as the tracker there was very good. It conveyed the worry of an entire Pavilion.

[Naiya]

She sat beside the dam, the ceramic cook pot carefully positioned for milking. She was rather poor at the entire affair of caring for the animals, but she could at least manage basic needs. Milking, brushing, checking hooves for rot, stones, or breaks. Aside from milking the zibri, it was nearly the same as caring for a horse, and she knew quite well the basic needs involved there. The matter of milking was simple enough, once she had realized that you pushed milk out, rather than trying to pull it free of the teat.

The milk made a strange sound against the bottom of the pot as she pressed it free from its confines, a liquid sound, but hard and fast in a way she didn't often hear. Her hands worked, squeezing and pressing the liquid into the container with a dull continuity that eased her mind and distracted her from her surroundings. Her focus instead was on the tiniest actions of her hands, how one side of a hand moving too fast shot the stream of milk off at an angle, or how if her grip grew too tight the zibri would shift and turn a large eye to stare balefully at her. So many factors that changed the actions in a million different ways.

The sound changed, shifting her attention back to the milk and away from the growing ache in her hands. There was a solid layer of milk, growing deeper with each motion she made slowly filling the pot. She smiled, gleeful. She had plans for the milk today, plans beyond drinking it. She had heard about a recipe that used the milk to make a sort of thin stew with only a handful of herbs and spices and whatever meat one had on hand. She would use whatever she got first, a kill from the cats, the fruit of her husband's hunt, or the success from her wife's snares. Someone would bring home food, and she would cook it. Simple as that.

A snapping twig stirred her, hands stilling as she came to attention. Family home from hunting, perhaps, although, if they had feet to snap twigs with, they would have greeted her, perhaps even if they didn't. So who was here, at her home, uninvited?

"Ahem." Seeking forgiveness, respectful greeting hands flashed in the dance of language, shaping the words that were conveyed in no better form. Naiya took it all in in an instant, the man, tall with short cropped hair, dark from sun, and clean enough to pass over in a quick glance.

A slave.

Caution, wariness Both shaped the form of the Drykas girl as the stranger encroached on her territory, crossing onto the plot of land that was currently her home. If she were a cat she would have hissed, in fact, she heard a few hisses from the cats that prowled nearby. She was better than that, though, not merely an animal to hiss her displeasure at being interrupted.

Greetings, curiosity, her reply came as she eyed him, taking in his appearance with not quite welcoming eyes, "Are you looking for someone?"

He nodded, noting her caution and offering reassurance in return, he hesitated just outside the plot, not willing to risk causing offense. Naiya, in turn, relented, welcoming him to a place at the fire, just outside the camp proper. He looked relieved, but Naiya couldn't help but to bristle at the intrusion. Why was he in her home?

"I am seeking Shahar Dawnwhisper, I was told he is a good tracker. Am I in the right place?"

"He is, and you are." She paused, looking around for effect, "But he isn't here now. He is hunting." Her hands were carefully neutral as the man seated himself by the fire. "You are welcome to wait here for him, but I don't know when he will return." She turned to her work, unsure exactly what had struck her so strongly about the man to make her behave so, but unwilling to back down from the stance she had taken.

A bell ticked by as she milked the three female zibri that were her charges. When her pot was nearly full she filled a cup with the frothy white liquid and drank deeply, relieved at having the chore done and the milk ready to be tended to.

She let the liquid sit a half bell, the cream floating to the top, and she scooped it away, placing it into a ceramic bowl for use later. She let the milk sit again, it was supposed to be as low on the cream content as she was able to make it. When she had counted away another thirty chimes and skimmed away the cream from the milk she placed the pot on the very edge of the fire to warm.

With a sigh she turned to the man again. Slave, she thought with a shake of her head. Not many could support themselves their family and a slave, so where was this man from.

"He could be many bells yet," She informed the man, still uncomfortable with his presence in her space, "Perhaps I can help you instead. What is it you seek my husband for?"

The man looked unsure, obviously having been told to find the man, the ankal perhaps. "Or perhaps you should return home and tell whoever sent you that the man's wife did not want you to sit idly by while you waited for him to return. Then you can be under their feet instead of under mine." She snipped. Lashing out at the quiet man who made her uncomfortable with his very presence.

He paled, going very still for a moment while he considered.

"My master has sent me seeking Shahar, my master was approached by Goren Shimmerstone of the Ruby Clan. His daughter, Amunet, rode into the Sea on the second day after the watchstone changed colors. She has not yet return. They seek a tracker to find and return their daughter. Since there is no true emergency, they cannot seek the watch or the webbers, the dangers of distracting them without reason are too great to risk."

Naiya frowned, a girl was missing and yet he sat here in silence waiting for a man to speak too with no promise that he would return while it was still light? She knew there was something about the slave she disliked, perhaps she had just sensed his nature on his approach.

"I'll go after her, did they say in what direction she rode?" She asked, the solution obvious to the Drykas woman despite the man's lack of belief clear as day in the shape of his body.

"South South East, according to the watchmen that were manning the gates when she left, but ma'am, they wanted your husband to-" He began to protest, but Naiya cut him off. Who knew when Shahar would be home, she would not wait.

"I am going, you'll do well to clear out before I'm gone, the cats grow large and hungry, and while you might fight off one, the other two might not let you off so easy for trespassing while their masters are away." She was steely in her reprimanding, warning him away from her home with harsh words.

The heel of her boot left a deep gouge in the earth when she spun to gather her things, dismissing the slave with both sign and word. She gathered her bow, her daggers, and her waterskin, which she went to fill freshly from the rill they camped beside.

Her return to camp left her alone, the man having departed in her absence, and she was glad to be rid of him. She hung the damp skin from a post of the tent, fetching her yvas and calling for Wildfire.

She slipped the yvas on, and he allowed her to do so, sensing her stress, perhaps. She hooked her waterskin to the yvas, and her quiver as well. She stuffed dried roots, meat, and fruits into her bag, enough for two people for three days. Or so she estimated that was how much food it was.

That was all she could do, she strung her bow and pulled herself up onto Wildfire's back, he took her weight without complaint. She circled round to the city gates, going out of her way to catch sight of a watchman.

"I am going in search of a missing girl, she was headed south southwest when last seen in the city, please alert the head of the Dawnwhisper pavilion of my departure on his return to the city."

The man of the watch nodded, and she glanced at the sun and headed off with the sun behind her on her right side. This early in the day, it meant she was headed in about the same direction. They started at a slow walk, scanning the grass for signs of passage. It wasn't difficult to find, the trails of man and horse were obvious and plentiful, it was distinguishing the trails that proved difficult. There was a man walking alone, here a woman and her horse, there a small group of horses headed out.

She was no tracker to differentiate the time and day of the making of the tracks, so she tossed the thought aside, instead stepping Wildfire into a steady canter in the right direction, she would find a trail later, once she had left the heavy traffic of the city.

[Amunet]

It wasn’t exactly like she was hiding. The girl wasn’t hiding. Amunet just kept going. It wasn’t quite nut season but she could already tell from a few places the nuts were on their way to ripening for fall. She wrapped a bundle of white flowered herbs that is a good tonic for nervous children when made. The twine would keep the bundle together till it could be hung to dry properly. That was placed into one of the sacks. Its cousin was bundled also and put in with the dying herbs. The pavilion did say they needed yellows.

Blue was harder to come by. If she found woad, the process of turning that into a blue was a bit labor intensive than other dyes. Berries could supply blue but not like woad. The sapphire clan did like the blue from it and if she made a good batch of pigment for dyes, it could sell well and the leather and wood that get stained with it would sell well for the clan. The girl picked woad that grew along the edges of a stand of brush. That filled the sack.

The girl looked at the bags and her strider. “Guess that is enough. “ The girl could stay out here another day to absorb more sweetgrass filled nights and the distant rumbling of thunder. Amunet spied a treat. She went over to the 3 foot tall plant with a yellow flower. Dandelion greens were taste for both human and strider. Shetanae loved dandelion greens. The red head picked the whole plant up. The roots make a good mild medicine that makes a person urinate. The tops though she lorded in front of her mare.

“Look what I got, Your favorite.” The impish smile spread across her face as she waved the plant in front of Shetanae. The mare took a step forward to claim the treat. Then the chase was on. Amunet giggled as she ran in one direction. The mare’s ears pricked forward and then laid back in mock anger as she trotted and half cantered after the girl. The chase was on. Amunet would dart and dodge the mare laughing only to head into the other direction. The mare was in hot pursuit with the bags flapping against her shoulders as she went after her rider to get that treat. The large mare and the diminutive little herbalist played this game of keep away.

The laughter would ring out as it continued for a while till she succumbed and was on her back on the sweet grasses. Her red hair was laid out behind her against the blue green grasses. “You got me.” She held the dandelion on her chest with the roots at her sternum. The horse took a bite at about midway and took a large portion. She shook her head up and down dramatically showing her victory over the little human. She got her treat. Shetanae started munching down the large piece only to nuzzle her rider gently. Amunet’s arms went around the huge head hugging it before giving her the rest of the dandelion minus the roots which she kept.

The girl has no idea of the current events that occurred in the city. The purity and innocence she enjoyed in the freedom of the Sea of Grass often brought her out here again and again. Amunet felt at peace out here and she felt as one with her surroundings. Maybe it was foolish but that was how she felt.

[Naiya]

Naiya rode for bells, the sound of Wildfire's hooves beating against the earth the only thing she could hear as her eyes scanned the horizon for the figure she sought.

Her fear was that the woman was hurt, or dehydrated, laying all but invisible in the grass unless the Drykas and her Strider were to walk directly over top of her. Otherwise she could pass her by without even realizing it. Nothing on the horizon, she turned her eyes to the ground, slowing the canter to a walk as she sought the signs of passage, trampled grass, broken twigs, prints in the dirt.

She caught sight of a trail, a horse alone, and a few yards off the wandering steps of a human, not seeming to go in any one direction, but stumbling around in a pattern Naiya could not make sense of.

The paths met and the human disappeared, likely mounted, although she wasn't sure if the hoof prints looked like the horse was heavier. Perhaps if it was mud she could have told, but it was too dry.

She lined Wildfire up with the tracks and they cantered once more, a new direction, taken just as swiftly as the first, bells of riding followed, her daylight falling away with each passing bell, until Syna's sun began to sink in the far side of the sky. It was perhaps two bells past noon. She had been riding for nearing six bells. Still no woman on the horizon.

She dismounted, giving Wildfire a break as she ran beside him and he trotted, reliever of her weight and at a slower pace, he would recover quickly enough from the long bells of running.

Naiya, however, was beginning to wear out, the hard riding the heavy trod of steps as she ran, the oppressive heat.

She hoped that luck would shine on her, that the woman would appear unharmed. She would need a lot of luck for that. Another half bell passed while she ran, and she did indeed find luck, a rill ran across the grass, nearby, the greener grass, thicker, harder to traverse, heralded water was near.

She pushed through the grass, seeking the source of the sound, and found herself at the bank of a shallow creek that raced along the bed to whatever body of water it fed. She drank deeply, cupping the water in her hands and pouring it over her head to chase away the beads of sweat that clung to her skin.

Beside her, Wildfire drank too, even trotted into the water to kick the cool liquid up his legs and across his belly. She couldn't blame him, and after she rinsed her arms and face, she aided him, pouring water from her wetskin down his sides to drip off his underside. The water would cool the likely overheated horse, and she could refill it with fresh water from the creek. Which, after pouring another skin full of water over the horses sides, she did, drinking deeply from the running water once more before seeking prints once more in the soft earth around the water.

The same wandering path from before was here, darting around whimsically, no cares in the world. The horse was her guide, though, and once she found that, she signaled to Wildfire who called loudly in protest before following the running woman.

It wasn't much longer then before she could see the woman and her horse on the horizon, dancing together across the grass, blissfully unaware of the headlong run that had taken up Naiya's day. Distance was deceptive in the grass though, and it took another bell to reach a safe distance across which she called the girl's name.

"Amunet?"

She waited for a response, approaching cautiously. "Amunet, your pavilion sent me to look for you, they grow worried." She called again, careful not to be too loud in the grass, not with shouting that could alert predators.

She was exhausted, sweaty and dirty from running through the grass with her strider, from riding nonstop to find the missing woman. She just hoped that the woman didn't run from her now, she didn't think she and Wildfire could muster up much more running without a real rest in the shade first.

[Amunet]

Amunet was hot and sweaty but she didn’t so signs of the ragged tired of the woman that called her name. Both her and her Strider looked up over at the careful words spoke with the careful advance. Fortunately she was Drykas so the first seconds of alert turned to relief then to irritation. When the other redheaded woman relayed why she had come after her the girl, The girl put her little fists on her hips. There was a huge sigh expelled sharply as Shetanae neighed a low greeting sound towards Wildfire. The tall mare nuzzled at the shoulder of her agitated mistress.

“Again?!” Then there was the youthful gravely groan as she looked up to the sky. “I always go out foraging for a day or two.. or three.” The girl frowned as she wondered how long she was out here. “My bags are full I was coming home soon. “ The girl looked up at the sky. “probably tomorrow. We are going to want to find somewhere to camp. “

Amunet looked at the woman as she looked exhausted. “My pavilion shouldn’t have bothered you. Im fine seriously. “ The girl went closer to the Drykas woman with smooth strides and an easy going manner. “are you ok?” The practiced eye looked her over to make sure she wasn’t injured or getting green around the gills or had gotten too hot. “I can cook us something. “

The compassionate girl suddenly became contrite as she looked aweful and looked to have ridden quite a bit to find her. “I mean what do you think. The sun is setting and riding in the dark is very dangerous. “ The girl looked at her as she didn’t seem to show much fear for camping out in the sea of the grass. The girl stayed close to what was known as ‘The Run ‘ . The deeper parts of the Sea of grass were far too dangerous though probably held richer finds. The girl did hedge into the edges of that danger from time to time.

The 10 year old mare bent her head down onto the slight shoulder she protected. The sleak dark mahogany bay of the mare shimmered in the sun. Amunet gleefully wrapped her arms around the mare’s neck. The bond between the two seemed rather strong. “What was your name? “ Finally, the girl asks for a name. If it was a snake it would have already bitten her, twice. Those bright eyes looked right at her. The girl was intelligent but she had a wild streak that kept her going out to this expanse of green , golds and browns.

The girl set about finding a proper spot to camp. Near enough to the water source but not close to any game trails that would water there and in turn attract predators. “This not a good place we need a more sheltered spot. “ The girl was unaware if the other red head needed to return home or not, but they needed to get a fire going. The hunters say a fire keeps predators away. They didn’t say why though.” There was that nonchalant shrug.

[Naiya]

Again the girl had asked, did she make a habit of worrying her pavilion to the point of sending trackers after her? That was not good form, not with a family so worried, not without a husband to protect her. She continued on, mentioning plans to go home soon, an entire day off in her estimations.

Naiya shook her head, tired more than anything else, she had ridden hard, and for a long time. "You've been gone four days, tomorrow will make five. Anyone would worry over such an absence, especially after yesterday's commotion." She trailed off as the girl approached, cautious of the unfamiliar woman without real fear, she seemed to be the missing girl, and unless she planned to kill her pursuers and ride off into the sea alone, Naiya figured she was pretty safe.

Her closer examination lent the younger woman to concern, asking after her health, offering to cook, but Naiya found herself shaking her head once more. Her refusal seemed to bring some error of her ways to her attention, suddenly becoming contrite.

Before Naiya could offer an answer, she was speaking again, asking further questions, but at least it gave Naiya more time to catch her breath.

When the girl finally seemed to be done speaking, Niaya took a deep breath and began. "You're right, I had to travel for many bells to find you, more bells than Wildfire can cover again today, but we can't camp here, it's too open, I spotted you from a bell's ride away." She paused in her speaking, drawing the waterskin from the yvas beside her and taking a quick drink before continuing. "How are you, and your mare? Can you ride? Neither of you are hurt, are you?"

For the first time, true concern shaped Naiya's body, her eyes roaming across both the horse and the girl, seeking any limps or scratches. "If you're okay to ride, there is a small creek a ways back toward the city, just off a rise of hills and a copse of trees. We'll be sheltered, and not visible until someone is right on top of us. If we let them get that close without noticing, well it's our own fault."

There was enough daylight left, maybe four bells until sunset, five until true dark set in.

"We can set up camp and then cook something, we'll have time if we get going soon." She assessed the girl once more, trying to decide what to make of her.

She patted Wildfire's neck and then began checking his hooves for stones, sliding her hands down his legs to check for heat or swelling. She picked a rock from his back hoof with her fingers, then came around feeling a bit more rested than when she had arrived, took another drink of water and mounted, a hand on the yvas pulling her into her seat. She draped the waterskin across the yvas, hooked carefully into place.

"My name is Naiya," She added, sort of an afterthought to the rest of her speech, answering the question she had forgotten.

[Amunet]

The young girl looked a bit confused when she said she had been out here for four days almost five. “Really?” Those little fingers scratched a dirty spot on her face absently as she tried to recall the last couple of days. “Could have sworn I was out here only a couple?” It wasn’t that she discounted the other red head’s words, but she seriously didn’t have memory of four days passing.

The sea of grass was known to play tricks like this and she was so enjoying the distant lightning and thunder. The girl felt no danger at all. Surely the very gods themselves had to have seen after this innocent woman-child for her to be in very much one piece and healthy. Naiya would see she was of sound body and mind with mostly full yvas bags from foraging. The girl followed the older red head as she seemed to look at her with disapproval. Unfortunately she was used to that expression. Amunet did not feel she needed a man to protect her. She didn’t mean to worry her pavilion but she was decent at being out in the grass or gave no thought to the danger.

“What was yesterday’s commotion? “ The girl truly had no idea what occurred in the city of tents. Those blue eyes looked with that naïve innocence right into Naiya’s own eyes. She could be ripe for the pickings up of any nefarious traveler or ill intent sentient individual that seemed to enjoy the predation of this sort of thing. Yet here she stood, whole, unharmed and full of life’s fire within.

“We are fine. Shetanae and I are quite fit. The grass out here was so inviting and there seemed to be one more thing to pick. “ Those eyes grew excited and a bit wild around those blue eyes as the sparks of lighting that matched the thunder god’s forks that would course over the sky. “I did not mean to worry anyone. “

Amunet nodded and mounted to follow the lady to a safer location, after what she suggested may not be that safe. The way the girl swung up onto the sixteen hand mare with relative ease spoke of her fitness of body. Shetanae was a fit mare. Both followed Naiya and Wildfire with no issues or signs of injury or sickness. The girl’s energy seemed to have wavered a little but it was late. Her family have had difficulty in keeping the child busy growing up. It seemed she was always into something. The younger read head took in the name of the older red head and nodded her head as they went on the move.

When they reached the creek and the spot that Naiya wanted to set up camp she did as she was told and assisted. Amunet was set up to camp out in the grass as she started to set up her tent. The tent was a four man tent. The girl worked to get it unrolled and set out flat on a cleared section, before raising the middle. With both of them at it, it took far less time and Naiya was taller which was also a help in getting the tent raised securely. Once that was done, each end of the tent outside had to be tapped down which she used a found rock to bang on the pegs. The Drykas method of weather proofing against the wind was employed as it had to do with wind resistance. The tents are treated with oils and other items so that the wind will essentially slide over them while the tent material did have a flexible structure to bend with the wind. The act of bending with the wind was just as important as the wind being able to pass over smoothly.

Once the tent was raised, the bed roll was placed in and Amunet tried to make it work so both of them could sleep using the tarp for extra cusion and cover on the ground. Naiya was working on the fire that would be needed. The hunters say a fire keeps predators away. Amunet then started to bring out various foraged finds that may do well for a meal. They may need to fish for protein. To that end she took out her hook and tackle to go find a spot to fish along the creek. First she needed a pole. The girl didn’t need a thick one as she found a five foot sapling and attempted to pull it up by its roots. The first two tugs got her not very far. The girl then squatted down got both hands at the base and pulled up with her legs and hips then her shoulders.

Once it was pulled she worked to wittle down the roots end the small tender branches and leaves. The crafty girl kept the smooth motions with her dagger going as she examined the flexible pole all the way to the tip for any breaks or striations. It took several minutes for her to get the green flexible wood to be a reasonable fishing pole. She then cut the fragile thin tip to a reasonable spot that would not likely break. The would being green it was less likely. Green sapplings often make good fishing poles due to this fact. The girl then picked at the tip where she then split an eighth of an inch down and then slid the fishing line into that split. She then wrapped around and around several times before tieing the line off tightly at the tip. On the other end of the line she fitted the hook and at a part of the length of the line she put a piece of floating bark. The size of the dried bark should be enough to float on top but allow the bait to sink down to its prescribed length. Now she needed bait.

The dark recesses under a rotten log that had captured leaves and dead grass was a good spot to look. Amunet would dig with her blade at the under belly of this spot to procure worms. Where she dug procured the worms as they fed on the decaying mass of vegetation. The girl threaded a likely worm onto the hook at the end of the fishing line and tossed that into the water to watch the bark floating for movement. The evening didn’t see too long as fish feed in the evening coolness. The bark flicked slightly then plunged down as Amunet came up sharply to hook the fish. The green pole bent half way down as she backed up to more drag the fish out of the water than pull. She only needed two fish. She went to get another worm out of the spot she found to work on catching the second fish.

[Naiya]

Both mounted, they began to ride, an easy trot covering the ground quickly, but without requiring too much effort on the part of Wildfire nor for Naiya. She was too tired to ride out a canter, and she didn't know that Wildfire would manage it either, and if she wasn't careful, she would overwork the strider, something she did not want to risk.

After a half bell had passed, Naiya sat back in the seat, slowing Wildfire to a walk with her weight of her body and a gentle command. She waited until the girl did the same, and then began to recount the tale of the fiasco that had been the man's death the day prior.

"Yesterday the lightning struck a man, and when he awoke he claimed to be a messenger of Zulrav." She paused a moment, trying to decide what else was important to the point she was making about how her absence would have disturbed her family. "He was incoherent, babbling about the approach of 'the dark one' until he died." She glanced at the girl, judging her readiness and whether or not she had understood. "Many of the elders are concerned, some families will depart from the city soon, it has caused great unrest." Finished with her explanation, she stepped her mount back up to a trot with a gentle squeeze of her legs and a firm call.

It was a long tick before the girl fell back beside her at the trot, perhaps while she considered the meaning of the words, or maybe just caught by surprise at Naiya's sudden change in pace. They needed to make good time, or they wouldn't be ready to set up a camp before dark, so Naiya didn't worry about the woman's mental state too much, just made sure she kept up.

Another bell passed with Naiya pushing the pace, alternating between short canters and easy trots to speed their progress while keeping the horses relatively rested. They came up on the creek, burbling along merrily enough, and followed the water towards the trees.

When they settled, the girl, Amunet, began to set things for the tent immediately, but Naiya was more concerned for Wildfire, checking him over, and giving him a gentle grooming with her hands. She checked his hooves once again, and the joints of his legs. She loosened the hair matted with sweat with stiff fingers, and ruffled away loose hair on his face. She wet a cloth and used it to wash the sweat off the stallion's body, dousing his underbelly and the major veins in his legs to help him cool.

It wasn't until that was done that she stepped in to help Amunet who seemed to be struggling to set the tent alone. Naiya stepped in, helping to heft the main support and raise the tent while the other girl secured the ends of the beams in the loops. Quickly enough there was a shelter, and the girl set to securing it into the ground while Naiya gave a quick check over Wildfire once more. The time he had to rest didn't seem to have caused him any trouble, nothing looked swollen, and he hadn't begun to limp. She hoped things would remain that way.

From beneath the tall grasses Naiya began to forage for the grass of the seasons passed, dead and baked by the sun until it was dry and flammable. She collected a number of small twigs as well, not likely to burn as quickly as the grass, but enough to burn while the other wood caught.

When she had a small pile of both the starting materials she turned to check on the girl. She was oiling the tent, weather proofing it if Naiya was correct, which seemed like an odd undertaking considering their circumstances. How often did she think that needed to be done? Didn't her family weather proof their tents in the winter, just before the new year? Regardless, was it really the most important task to see to when the light was quickly fading from the sky?

She would have spoken to her about it, but she was nearly done now, and there was little point. Naiya wondered if she had seen to her mare yet, or if the tent took priority over both mount and mounting darkness.

She shook her head, a small smile, bemused, as she went in search of larger pieces of wood. She collected some that was no morn than an inch around, then a few two or three times that size, and with a little more searching around the trees, found some branches that had fallen in storms and had to be dragged back to the camp. Set as she was, she began to see to starting the fire. Experience said she should find a rock and dig a small pit, although she was reluctant, she knew it would be harder to restart the fire in the dark later than it was to dig the pit now.

She bludgeoned the earth with a large stone, hefting it up into the air above her head so that the weight of the rock would do the work of loosening the dirt. When her arms began to protest the movement, she began to scrape the dirt away, moving it to form a barrier around the edge of the pit that would help keep the fire from spreading. Again she resorted to pounding the rock into the earth, making a second depth of the pit to help hold in the heat, and allowing her to create a larger ring of damp earth around the fire's edge.


Next the grass piled against the deep side of the pit, and the smallest of the sticks formed into a haphazard pyramid as her husband often did. Well, her husband did a better job of it, but the shape she had learned from him. The next part she had learned from Shahar as well, striking the stone against the steel at a close angle to shave off bits of the metal, allowing them to accumulate in the bed of dry grass. Eventually the shaved bits caught the spark from striking the metal and burned brightly, lighting the dry grass and setting the smaller sticks alight as well. Carefully Naiya began to add more wood, small pieces, not enough to smother the flame, and eventually more and more pieces, larger and larger following the shape she had created in the beginning. Soon enough they had a fire well and truly burning within the earthen pit she had created.

She formed the rest of the wood into a tidy pile just out of the reach of the flames and turned to find the young woman once more. She was fishing in the little creek, with a fair bit more success than Naiya would have thought possible. It was well enough, if Naiya didn't have to dig into her stores of food, that was all the better.

She drank from her waterskin, filling it once more as it emptied at her lips. She checked the ties of the tent, glad the girl had brought a tent with her, for Naiya had left hers behind in hopes of returning home the same day. Shahar would worry, and that left a pit in her stomach. She would have to apologize to him come morning. Or evening perhaps if they did not make good time.

"Amunet, how is the fishing coming?" Naiya asked softly, approaching the woman to find she had already hooked one fish and was seeking a second one. "I can prepare this fish while you seek another." She offered, hooking a finger through the gill of the creature and lifting it up in the fading light of the sun.

She rinsed the dead fish in the water, removing the dirt from its scales before taking it to the fire to begin preparing it. She didn't have the proper knife for preparing fish, but the blade of her eating knife was thin enough, or at least thinner than her dagger, and she could use that to cut the meat.

She started by scraping the scales off the fish with the flat of her knife, trying not to tear the skin. She managed, the scales not too tough to remove, but still she did rip one or two little sections as the blade caught on the flesh.

She cut slits at the neck, carving along the line where the head met the body in an angle that slanted beneath the front fins. Then she cut a line through the belly of the fish, pulling the innards out of the fish and glancing about for Banti to give them too.

She wasn't home, she remembered, so she just tossed the offal into the fire. The fish would cook best as was without pans to cook on, she cast about for the rock she had dug with and took it and the fish downstream from where Amunet was fishing. She washed the fish and the rock then set the stone back in the pit of the fire, heating it to serve as a platter for cooking, and placing the fish on the edge furthest from the fire.

"Did you happen to find garlic or mint while you were foraging? It would go really well with the fish you caught, Amunet."

[Amunet]

Amunet and her mare was in pretty good shape for a pair that had spent a few days on the Run. Shetanae and Amunet were out on the Grass frequently. The constant starts and stops provided frequent rest and made for chaotic tracks. “I just kept finding more and more little things.” She tried to explain at one point. They were used to the oddities and rigors. Amunet thought of Naiya’s well being as she fished.

The little brown and gold fish kept eating her bait. The first fish must have been a stroke of luck. Those blue eyes narrowed at the water dripping off of the denuded hook as she glared back at the water. “Why you little stinkers.” She huffed a sigh as she turned to get an escapee worm to find they all had escaped. The little lady sighed again as she went to get a handful of worms were she found the first pile. Shetanae had found a spot to graze and if Wildfire was of a mind, the mare had a knack for finding good grazing and fresh water. Amunet was set to fish for another eating size fish, not a little bait stealer.

Naiya had taken the first fish to clean and then returned to ask if she had mint and garlic. She nodded as she said to her “Look in my yvas bags, the probably garlic in there but I think I know where to find mint around here. “ She proceeded to get second fish out of this creek.

The line went into the water a little further into the creek as she watched the piece of bark land in a different spot that hopefully would hold a larger fish. She stood up to watch the ‘float’ and jerked it up when it made a movement. She had jerked the bait and all far too soon. Her face screwed with consternation as the line was thrown back out. “Steady, Amunet.” She told herself softly. Watching that piece of bark for a twitch or some sign it was fixing to go under. Then there it was. A slight twinge of a spasm. A click later a second spasm of the wood occurred. Amunet poised on the pole to give it some slack as the bark then went under. The girl pulled up on the pole spasmodically. It was not graceful but it hooked the fish.

Once the second fish was brought in she let the rest of the worms escape and she went to deposit it carefully by the fire. She then went to her mare to unpack the yvas, pad and yvas bag from her. Rumaging through the yvas bag produced several smaller bags with various herbs and other items. “No garlic or mint. But I know where. “ Before she could say anything the young woman stood up and looked around to get her bearings. She sotted the stand of plum trees and then the stand of wasiche. You had to be careful of wasiche they had very long thorns. Small animals and birds loved nesting in them as it protected them from most predators. The young red head then darted off in a direction with some surety.

She went five hundred feet before stopping as the breeze came up The girl smelled the air as she smiled and went to the patch of medium green strands with white flowers. Out came her dagger to dig up at a corner to bring up a bulb of garlic. She tapped this on the side of her hip lightly to get most of the dirt off of it before sheathing her dagger to look for that patch of mint. Mint grew everywhere it seemed and was a common herb. The older herbalist said that it grew throughout all of Mizahar in one form or another. The girl moved back towards their camp to get her bearings again as she went more into the stand of trees and wasiche carefully avoiding the thorny bushes to look for the mint. She was approximately fifteen hundred feet away by the time she found a patch that she picked a bunch of as the twilight had rendered it darker.

She walked back up into camp with not silent feet. The mint and garlic was deposited near the fire as she smiled at Naiya. It seemed the girl garnished more dirt getting the garlic and herbs. Amunet didn’t seem to mind as she went to her mare to run her hands over the grazing horse. The strider tolerated it stalwartly with one foot out front as she didn’t let her companion’s searching as long as it didn’t disturb her grazing. The little red head satisfied that there were no hidden burs or cuts she went back to the camp and plopped down near the fire to see if Naiya needed help with anything.

[Naiya]

Naiya's hands idled while Amunet caught the second fish, but after the young woman deposited the catch, Naiya was back in business. Since she was already beside the fire, she grabbed her knife before turning to the water, she slid the blade through the fish's gill, impaling him into the ground with her blade. Two fish would feed them well, but they would need more come morning.

She used what was left of the light to build a dam, piling rocks into a large rough oval with a narrow mouth. Across the water she laid a line of stones, directing the flow of water into the trap, hopefully the fish would follow the current and be caught by the force.

That done, she scaled the fish with the flat of her blade, forcing away the small hard discs. Her knife made a cut through the gut, and this time the offal went into the water, bait for the fish.

She rinsed the fish clean, letting the current chase away blood and dirt. That finished she lay the second fish beside the first, out of the heat. Amunet had gone to seek more herbs, but her Strider was still in the camp, so Naiya was fairly sure she wouldn't need finding again.

She glanced out in the sea and the red spot in the distance was surely the woman. She had free hands once more, so she turned her attention to her horse. Wildfire was grazing near the stream, his legs still damp, but seemingly content. Her attention seemed to be noticed as he stopped, lifting his head to make an affectionate sound.

Soon Amunet returned, a bulb of garlic in hand beside a bundle of mint. Happiness, pleasure, gratitude Naiya signed to her, peeling away the papery white skin from the bulb. She tossed the scrap into the fire, waiting until she had freed four cloves of garlic before returning the find to the young woman to store with her other finds.

She cut the tips off the bulbs, they were hard and unpleasant to eat. Then using the palm of her hand she smashed the cloves against the rock causing them to bruise and split. She rubbed the cloves all over the outside of the fish, letting the pungent oils coat the skin before stuffing two cloves into each fish. She turned to the mint next, rolling the stem and leaves between her hands before placing some into the fire and the rest into the fish.

The mint smoke would chase bugs from their camp, and the rest would flavor their food. She spared a splash of water from her waterskin, dripping it onto the stone to gauge its heat. The water sizzled away in only ticks, so Naiya knew it was hot enough.

She put both fish on the rock, letting the heat cook the meat through the skin. She had a few chimes before the fish needed attention, so she found a thin but sturdy looking twig from her pile of wood and took to sharpening the tip.

Her knife wavered and shook as she tried to find the right force to sharpen the small piece of wood, but after only a chime she had figured it out and made a decent end for the tool. Her hand wasn't steady, and the point fell at an odd place, not centered on the stick, but it didn't matter because it would serve the purpose.

After she was sure the fish was ready, she used her sharpened twig to pierce the fish's tail, carefully maneuvering the stick and fish so that she could lift it off the stone and flip it to the other side.

She stabbed the second fish in much the same way, careful not to drop the food into the dirt she managed to flip the second one as well, although she nearly missed, having to slide him back onto the middle of the stone.

Amunet returned as she was flipping the fish, and Naiya grinned at the woman. "This is kind of nice." She said, "I haven't left the city much recently, only for day trips, it's much different to be out alone in the grass than in the shelter of the city."