Deception (Kovac)

[Shayth]

12th Day of Winter, late evening

Shayth huddled back against the warm feathers behind her, staring bitterly out at the blizzard howling through the evening sky - defying its bitter cold. Angrily, she wiped at the tears that had come and rolled silently down her cheeks. Turiska had told her, through the other eagles, that Kovac had been in close relations with another woman. An avora. It started on the hunt where he'd almost lost his life to a petching snake, curled up close and flirting heavily with some scarlet-haired wench. As the wind eagle had whispered to her, she revealed that only two days ago Kovac had seen the girl again - and this time he had his arms around her hugging and who knows what else. The way Turiska heard it, Kovac had made to sleep with the woman on the hunt - till events had taken a nasty turn.

At first Shayth had been violently angry, swearing and pacing and ready to murder someone. Turiska had even suggested they go and find not only the archer but the tramp he was dallying with. Then she had been angry at herself for being so angry. It wasn't like they had said they were exclusive, and Kovac had never said he was a one-girl-avora. In fact, he'd quite often implied he wasn't. And what was the fuss anyway? If he didn't want to be with her, then why bother? She'd never needed anyone before, and it meant Turiska could have her to herself again. Petching stupid waste of time.

Still, in the end the rider had curled up in the wind-eagles nest, comforted by her warmth. Tears had come as the hurt set in, heart feeling heavy and aching. It had seemed...like it was going to be something else. Like maybe behind all their denial and false casualness there might actually be some real connection. Shayth didn't sob, or even cry really. She stared at the storm, jaw tensed and a few stray tears falling to her cheeks. She was already in a foul mood before this, with Turiska grounded and the mountain cut off from everything else. Behind her, Turiska keened softly and whispered in her mind. Forget him, throw him out. You are endal, he is nothing. Male's are only led by their urges. We belong together, we are one.

Hair loose, save for the single long braid with Turiska's feather, and wrapped in a thick warm fur - Shayth hoped he just dropped dead. Or she did. Sniffing softly, she wiped her cheeks with the heels of her hands.

[Kovac]

Kovac had made a run to the Galleries to gather more practice arrows, having used the supply he had during his training session with Sairque and Aidara. He had also grabbed a bottle of wine to share with his redheaded benefactor, which he had already taken several swigs from on the way to the Aeries. He came through the door, setting the bottle on a table and carrying the bundle of arrows to the storage area. He did not see Shayth. The Avora still strove to maintain a low profile in the aerie, ever conscious of Turiska and her dislike of him. So Kovac never called out for the Endal. Instead he checked her room and his, as well as the bath. No Rider. With a sigh he realized she was either out with the Wind Eagle, or they were both in the raptor's nesting area. He approached the entryway to Turkiska's chamber gingerly, raising his voice only slightly. "Shayth," He paused. "Shayth, I brought some wine."

[Shayth]

Turiska was the first one to hear the avora arrive, scurrying around like some dung beetle around the endal's keep. It flared her already violent temper and a low growling hiss started quietly deep in her chest, causing Shayth to look up at the great head above her. The sound of the man's voice came from the entrance, small and just above talking level, hard to make out above the howling wind. As she stared at the archway, Turiska lowered her head and keened.

"Stay here with me, I will not hurt you. He lies to you, deceives you." The redhead sniffed again, wiping her cheeks angrily with her hands to be sure they were dry.

"I want to petching talk with him." She said back, thoughts clipped and raging. With a satisfied chirrup, Turiska moved her massive head to allow the rider passage out of her nest. At least watching the events unfold gave the eagle some temporary entertainment from the sheer agony that was being grounded. With twitching jaw and clenched fists, Shayth strode across the stony ground and entered her commons - almost running into Kovac. Stopping short, blue eyes burning, the endal moved around him to enter the room properly...away from the aerie. Whilst she wanted to have it out with the avora, she didn't want his bloody death.

Striding to the table, she picked up the wine and took a deep drink of it, before lowering the bottle and looking at it. It gave her something to focus on, so she could ground herself instead of just punching his stupid face. The chill of the air swept through the keep, but Shayth ignored it. If she was in the right frame of mind, she would light the fireplace in her room and huddle into the furs. But she wasn't.

"What's the occasion?" The redhead asked, tone low and forceably restrained. She wanted to scream like a banshee - but it was inappropriate. Endal's were not screaming whining drudges, and he wasn't her....he wasn't hers. Taking another swig, she swirled the wine. Her heart hammered in her ears, and for a moment angry tears threatened, to which she grit her teeth and forced away. Damn all to hell Kovac wouldn't see her cry over him.

[Kovac]

Kovac waited a long, hesitant moment. Then Shayth strode out of the entryway, stormed was more like it. The Rider appeared as tensely fierce as the blizzard that raged outside. Everything about her demeanor warned him that her fiery rage had been stoked. She stopped short before him, in his personal space. But it was not as pleasant usual. The Avora caught the restrained fury in the Endal's piercing blue eyes, just a harpooning glance before she shrug past him towards the table. Her anger was directed at him, he knew it. Now, he could only wait for the dam to break and the barrage to begin. Kovac was immediately on the defense. She drank from the wine, trying to be casual, but he could see the seething emotion below the surface, thinly contained. His feet shifted, his hands loose, ready to dodge in case she decided to throw the bottle at his head. He was confused, unable to fathom why she was angry, what he could have done to earn her wrath. "What's the occasion?" He sensed a trap. She was going to toy with him, make him suffer in ignorance for a while. He waved his hand casually, his tone a forced nonchalance. "Nothing, I just thought since everyone is snowed in from the storm, we could enjoy a bottle of wine together tonight...is all." Kovac shrugged, taking a few steps bravely towards the fuming woman. He found himself fidgeting with the sontav on his left wrist, he stopped and instead rested the hand on the table, trying to look innocent. A tortuous moment passed as she took another swallow, examining the wine, making him wait. His curiosity got the best of him. "Shayth, what is going on, you are going to bust a blood vessel if you don't let it out." The archer knew he was calling down the thunder, but not knowing was eating at him. He steeled himself, bracing for whatever would come next.

[Shayth]

Perhaps if she wasn't wound up from the storm to begin with, the endal might have been able to rationally discuss the situation with Kovac. Maybe if Turiska's violent temper and detrimental whispers hadn't eaten at her, the endal could have shrugged it off.

Maybe.

As Kovac casually stopped beside her, the redhead felt her temper rising even more. How dare he be so...so casual! Did he really think it would go un-noticed? Petching...petching ass! His last sentence finally got the best of her, and with force she slammed down the wine bottle, cracking the side. Whirling on the avora, Shayth advanced.

"You want me to let it out?! Ohh...I'll petching let it out." Shoving him hard, the rider glared at him with rage and hurt.

"Do you have any idea how keen a wind-eagles vision is? Or how much they actually talk to each other? Of course you don't, otherwise you'd petching keep your little romps behind closed petching doors!" She was yelling now, all sense of dignity out the door as soon as the floodgates opened.

"I know, about the filth your so desperately trying to take to bed with you." Her voice was thick with insult and injury.

[Kovac]

Kovac should have seen it coming, even as his ill-spoken words left his lips, he could see Shayth boil over, her teeth gritting through thinned lips, her fists clenched until her knuckles were white. Whatever he had done, it must have been bad. He had never seen the Rider this angry. When the wine bottle struck the table with a loud crack, he flinched. His surprise left him defenseless as she closed the distance between them almost instantly and slammed her palms against his chest, causing the Avora to stumble backwards. Then came the accusations. Infidelity. It was a serious charge, at least to Kovac. He had been the victim of a cheating lover. It was then that the archer realized his miscalculations. Shayth was the jealous type. For one to be jealous, one had to consider something to belong to them. What had remained unspoken and unconfessed had come to bite him on the arse. Not that he did not consider himself Shayth's. As an Endal, she had laid a sort of claim on him, if overtly in a professional capacity. The truth was pretty apparent to most in the aeries though. They were together. The unofficial nature of their relationship gave him license to flirt, he had assumed. But his hedonism had come with a price. The wrath of Shayth. He surmised that Renol or Sairque's loud mouth eagles exaggerated what had happened between Aidara and he on the hunt. Then the ill-timed training session with the twins must have also gotten to Turiska, who would all but love to make him look like a useless dog. Kovac's own indignant anger rose to a head. He may not be virtuous, but he was no longer snagging Deks and dragging them to his bed either. "Now wait one chime!" His own voice raised to match Shayth's. "I have not slept with anyone since I moved in here! I have not slept with Addy or..." His words froze on his tongue. Second mistake. He mentioned a name. He kicked himself mentally. He knew Shayth was going to physically. Kovac liked Aidara, found her very attractive, but nothing had happened, well, technically speaking, 'I did not sleep with her' was true. Shayth was not in the mood to discern the subtle difference. Shayth's unbridled rage and poison words continued. He feared any words from him would only fuel the Endal's rage. But Kovac was never very perceptive when it came to knowing when to shut up. "Wait, I am not desperate!" He defied her, unwisely. "Only you have been in my bed, and the only bed I have been in is yours!" He advanced a brave step towards her. "And I am infinitely satisfied with those circumstances." He stopped, realizing that his statement may have been the closest thing to 'I am yours' that he had ever said to the woman. He stared into Shayth's bloodshot blue eyes, barely holding his composure before her withering glare.

[Shayth]

As the avora rose to the accusations, Shayth narrowed her eyes and curled her lip.

"Addy?! Is that her name?" Briefly an image flashed in her mind, provided by eagle tucked in her nest outside delighting in the argument. Surprise followed by even more anger swelled inside her.

"The twins!? Aidara? Are you kidding me? You...your..." She couldn't speak she was so angry, even as he prattled on about being exclusive to her and her alone. He'd moved closer, denying all claims, and with a sudden rush Shayth slapped him. The words, in other times would have been appreciated and welcomed, but now it only served to upset her. She continued to swing, whether she landed a punch or not. The tears she didn't want him to know about sprang forth, and quickly she spun away from him, pressing the back of her hand to her mouth and breathing laboured. This was not going to be his win. Taking a breath, she grit her teeth and forced herself to speak.

"If your so...satisfied with the circumstances...then why the petching hell are you even nosing around her?" Looking back at him, angry tears in the corner of her eyes, the rider shook her head. She shouldn't let him get to her, let it go. They were never together, not really. Nothing said as much.

[Kovac]

Grave error, he had now dragged Aidara into the fire. Shayth knew Sairque and, of course, the flight leader's sister. Kovac opened his mouth to offer more unwelcomed and counterproductive words in his defense when she stormed up to him and slapped his face. The Avora's head spun with the force of the strike, for the angry RIder held nothing back. The sting was intense and a red hand print appeared across his cheek. Perhaps he deserved it. Regardless, he hoped the outburst had appeased her wrath to some degree. But no, the ire of this notoriously ill-tempered Endal flared still, and as Kovac turned back to her, a balled fist slammed into his head at the outer edge of his left eye. The archer's vision was blurred by stars, and his hands raised blindly to fend off the flailing fists of the raging redhead. One blow glanced off his mouth, cutting open his lip. Suddenly Shayth turned away and Kovac swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, tasting his own blood. He stood dumbfounded, wary that anything he might say, even if it dripped with affection and humility, would only fuel her anger. He now feared for Addy, seeing how angry and distraught Shayth had become. The woman's jealous rage had touched him in a different way, in addition to fear for his life. It proved that, in some way, she cared for him, just as he knew, reluctantly, that he cared for her. Too bad it was likely to end in an ugly manner. "Shayth, I, you..." He stammered. His face hurt, blood smeared on his lips. A loud voice in his head suggested that now was not the time to confess his true feelings, or maybe that was just the ringing in his ears that lingered after he was struck. He wasn't sure how to respond to her question, if she really wanted an answer at all. A number of excuses ran through his mind, all of them likely to invoke more beatings. Kovac did not have an answer for himself. Was he just not ready for commitment? Was he trying to sabotage their relationship because he really did want to be with Shayth and was afraid? Or did he just find Addy attractive and could not resist? Shayth had turned away from Kovac, her back to him. He had hurt her. The Avora was not particularly sensitive or caring. Being self-centered and self-indulgent left little room for thinking of others. But when it came to Shayth, the lusty, strong-willed Endal had cracked his shell. Guilt managed to find its way to the surface. If he wasn't careful, it may lead to humility and admission of wrong. "Well, maybe you should not believe everything you hear." He drew short of accusing Turiska of framing him. Shayth, even in her anger, showed some restraint. The testy Wind Eagle would not. "I am allowed to have friends, am I not?" The question was a bit misleading, for the interactions with Aidara had teetered on turning more than friendly.

[Shayth]

Trying to steady her breathing and the lump in her throat, the endal turned away from Kovac as he spoke, knowing what he meant even if the eagle didn't. Turiska would never lie, not to hurt her on purpose. Would she? And on he spoke. Friends? Shayth felt her temper flare at the word. Brushing the heel of her hands against her cheeks, she nodded wryly and glanced at the wine on the table. Picking it up, she took a sip, avoiding the crack. Placing it down again she nodded.

"Of course you can have friends. Is that not what I am? A friend? I'm not your keeper, and you aren't my slave. What friends you keep is your own choice. I just thought..." Stopping short, the rider angrily pressed her lips together, too much in denial and to afraid of rejection to go on.

"Nevermind." The raging anger had faded again into the sick feeling of hurt and betrayal. Kovac said she was just a friend, the eagles said there was more. Some part of her needed to stay rational behind the emotions. Crossing her arms, Shayth swallowed hard.

"You say I shouldn't believe everything I hear. Alright, then tell me Kovac. What happened, on that hunting trip. And when you met for training?" Turning to face him, she tried to keep the flood of feelings back. Is this what...love felt like? Jealousy, anger, hurt, passion, pain? For a moment, Shayth felt a deep insight into Turiska's personality.

[Kovac]

Kovac kept his eyes on Shayth as she paused for a moment, seeming to gather her thoughts as she took a swig of wine. His cheek and eye hurt where she had struck him, his lip stung from the cut that still bled lightly. The Endal began to speak again, her consternation apparent in her halted sentences, pursed lips and crossed arms. She was holding back something though, and Kovac knew what it was, though he was as hesitant as her to address it. The Avora's mind scrambled for a remedy. Seeing the myriad of emotions that swept over Shayth, he lost his own steam. Had she simply been angry with him, knocked him around a bit and stormed out, he could deal with that, he could be angry in return. But the tears, the body language, the words she would not speak had disarmed him, even when he felt he had done no wrong. Kovac took a hesitant step towards her, a rare streak of honesty peeking out of the cynical man. "Shayth, of course you know you are a friend, and you know that you are more than that." His hands on his hips, one lifted to gesture at her. "What you are to me....no one else is like that. Aidara is a flirty girl. Did I flirt? Yes. Did we kiss? Yes. Did I sleep with her? No. I didn't, I couldn't, because all I could think of was you." His hand returned to his hip and he huffed, looking off into the distance, as if he was irritated that the attractive rider plagued his mind every waking moment. "Look," his head turning back to meet Shayth's icy blue eyes, his voice hesitant, wrestling with words that did not come willingly, "...I know you think that we...we have...something....are something." His discomfort was apparent as the Avora's eyes darted around the room, as if to find courage before settling his green gaze squarely at her. "Well, I...I think so too. If I didn't I would have slept with Addy, and others." His voice raised in volume and intensity. "Petch....Endal, you got me all messed up, I can't get you out of my head!" Kovac turned away to pace as he spoke. "Do you know that? Do you know how crazy you make me when you get close to me?" The archer's words were blast through gritted teeth, thick with intensity. He was angry and impassioned at once, not sure if he wanted grab her and kiss her, or smack her on the ass. The focus of the argument had seemed to shift from the Avoran woman to he and Shayth's undefined relationship. Kovac paused, breathing a bit heavy, watching the woman who had taken him into her home and her bed.