12 Spring 518
Kiveth gave Ashka a look of surprise. "You don't know how to throw a knife, even though you carry one? Where have you been all your life?" His long fingers fluttered at his side.
Ashka gave him a dry look in return. "On a ship. Where throwing a weapon comes with a high risk of losing it entirely, when it goes over the rail and lands in the sea. So no. I hold onto my knife."
"I'll show you then. Time you learned. You're not on a ship now." He glanced round, spotted a sand dune nearby and trotted over to it. He drew a set of circles in the damp sand with a claw, and came loping back. "There, that'll do for a target."
A sharp hunger for the sea ran through Ashka for a moment at his words. Her body might be here on land, but her heart remaining out in the waves. She forced her attention back to her guest as he drew his knife and demonstrated how to hold and throw it so that it sank point first into the target. Ashka tried to copy the hold, but her hands and arms were enough of a different shape from his that she physically couldn't hold her knife the way he held his. She tried anyway, but the throw went short, and wide, and ended up nowhere near the target.
Kiveth grimaced, wrinkling his ice-blue nose. "This would be so much easier if I could just share the memory of how it's done with you," he grumbled, showing her again.
Ashka retrieved her knife, and held it carefully, placing her fingertips in the groove down the middle of the blade so that she didn't cut herself, and threw again. "You're joking, right?" The knife actually hit the dune this time. Hilt first, rather than point, but it was, she thought, a slight improvement on not at all.
He blinked and stared again. "You don't share memories?"
Ashka stared back. "You do?"
"Sure. Or rather we can share the memories of someone who isn't a Verusk if we touch them. Can't do it with each other, unfortunately." He collected her knife and brought it back, wrapping his hand around hers in another attempt to show her how to hold it.
Ashka flinched. She wasn't sure she wanted someone rummaging around in her memories. Memories were almost all she owned from her childhood. She gave him a sideways look from the corner of her eye and focused hard on the memory of a bucket of painfully cold water falling on her.
Kevith made a hissing, spluttering, sound and snatched his hand away.
Kiveth gave Ashka a look of surprise. "You don't know how to throw a knife, even though you carry one? Where have you been all your life?" His long fingers fluttered at his side.
Ashka gave him a dry look in return. "On a ship. Where throwing a weapon comes with a high risk of losing it entirely, when it goes over the rail and lands in the sea. So no. I hold onto my knife."
"I'll show you then. Time you learned. You're not on a ship now." He glanced round, spotted a sand dune nearby and trotted over to it. He drew a set of circles in the damp sand with a claw, and came loping back. "There, that'll do for a target."
A sharp hunger for the sea ran through Ashka for a moment at his words. Her body might be here on land, but her heart remaining out in the waves. She forced her attention back to her guest as he drew his knife and demonstrated how to hold and throw it so that it sank point first into the target. Ashka tried to copy the hold, but her hands and arms were enough of a different shape from his that she physically couldn't hold her knife the way he held his. She tried anyway, but the throw went short, and wide, and ended up nowhere near the target.
Kiveth grimaced, wrinkling his ice-blue nose. "This would be so much easier if I could just share the memory of how it's done with you," he grumbled, showing her again.
Ashka retrieved her knife, and held it carefully, placing her fingertips in the groove down the middle of the blade so that she didn't cut herself, and threw again. "You're joking, right?" The knife actually hit the dune this time. Hilt first, rather than point, but it was, she thought, a slight improvement on not at all.
He blinked and stared again. "You don't share memories?"
Ashka stared back. "You do?"
"Sure. Or rather we can share the memories of someone who isn't a Verusk if we touch them. Can't do it with each other, unfortunately." He collected her knife and brought it back, wrapping his hand around hers in another attempt to show her how to hold it.
Ashka flinched. She wasn't sure she wanted someone rummaging around in her memories. Memories were almost all she owned from her childhood. She gave him a sideways look from the corner of her eye and focused hard on the memory of a bucket of painfully cold water falling on her.
Kevith made a hissing, spluttering, sound and snatched his hand away.
Common, Pavi, Fratava
