A chill winter's morning (GF'ed)

[Kashik]

75th Day of Winter, 510 AV

Kashik Denusk stood in a small clearing near the Diamond Clan's pavilions, wrapped in a thick layer of furs and holding a steaming cup of spiced tea. She was small, just above five feet tall, and if one saw her from behind they would have assumed she was as petite in girth as she was in height. Until she turned, and it was reveled that she was very pregnant, her swollen belly wrapped in it's own fur shawl as if to give it extra protection from the cold. She wore no hat, though, being late enough in the season that there was a touch of Spring in the breezes that blew through the migrant city. Those tugged at her riotous brown curls, tossing them this way and that, and she swiped at them more out of habit than annoyance.

Beside her stood a man who must have been a relation, so closely did their features match - from the dark hair to the coffee-colored skin to the bright turquoise eyes that scanned the crowds that bustled by. "You really should sit down," he said, glancing down at the shorter woman.

"Petch off," she grumbled, sipping her tea and glaring up at him. "I'm tired of people fawning over me as if I'm going to shatter into a thousand pieces. I'm pregnant, not crippled! And these furs are ridiculous. I'm sweating my balls off under all this."

"Such a pleasure to know you," her brother chuckled.

"If you don't go away, Bremon, I'm going to dump this tea on your head. Don't you have a pavilion to run or something?" she growled, pulling at the collar of her cloak and then giving up and yanking at the tie and pulling the damned thing off in a huff of frustration.

"Forgive me for showing some concern, little sister. It seems your hormones are making you unfit for company, though," he said, giving a little bow.

"You... you pin-headed dog-petcher!" she shrieked, throwing the cup of tea at him, which he dodged lithely as he laughed heartily at being able to goad her into a fight. "Go dote on your wife if you want someone to coddle! Here, give her this stupid cloak, maybe she'll boil in it too and then you can have two women throwing things at you!"

He caught the furs as she tossed them at him, and just laughed and bowed again before sauntering off into the city.

"Dammit. Now I need more tea," she grumbled, glancing around to figure out where the nearest vendor was before starting out into the crowd.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

The crowds didn't exactly part for Sama'el and Dohaina just because they were wearing signs of their membership in the Watch, but he certainly felt like they were. He was almost more comfortable in the saddle than on foot anymore, and he was so excited to have his dreams slowly coming true that he did catch more attention than ever before. His golden mare found a path through the people and soon enough traffic wasn't such a problem through the Diamond clan pavilions as he headed in a generally home-ish direction from a meeting with his superiors. He simply had to advance in the ranks quickly. Once he had that sort of respect, having his own pavilion would be easy as pie. Thinking of which, he missed pie from Syliras. Damn. A movement among movements caught his eye and he glanced over to see a rather pregnant woman, which made him smile, even if she didn't look too happy about the fact. Perhaps she was just angry at life. Some women went crazy when pregnant, or so he had heard. Just then he wondered how long it would take to get a pavilion, get married, and start making babies of his own. He wondered if it would be similar delivering a child as delivering a foal, but then he thought he had better leave it to experts. "Ho, stranger," he called over to her, politely enough. "It looks like you might need to kill someone. Do you require a second?"

[Kashik]

Kashik heard someone hail her, and the phrasing made a grin burst across her lips, bright and dazzling. "Sweet gods! I'd punch a baby in the face for a good fight. None of these pansies will even let me pick up a spear in my condition. Probably better that way. Big petching belly makes it impossible to swing it right."

She walked (well, waddled, but in her mood no one would say that) up to the Watchman, offering a flattened palm to his Strider. "Hello, krechari. Hard day walking the borders?" she murmured to the horse, giving her a scratch beneath the chin. Then she turned her smile up at the boy and rolled her eyes. "Can't even get my fat ass in a saddle anymore. Yep. May just have to kill someone," she laughed. "I'm Kashik, by the way, Denusk Pavilion of the Sapphire Clan. You heading out or coming home?"

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Dohaina whickered at the pregnant woman, nudged her nose into the lady's shoulder, while Sama'el just smiled down at her. If his Strider liked a person, chances were all but certain that he would too. In addition to that, she had a sense of humor even in the middle of what sounded like a rather frustrating, uncomfortable pregnancy. "You could always take a spear to members of the Watch. They would have to defend themselves, after all, but they would be handicapped by not wanting to hurt you or the baby. That might irritate you, them not fighting all out, but you could take advantage of it and bloody the noses of more skilled warriors, making a name for yourself... Kashik Mamabear, perhaps... Wait... Denusk? Are you...? Do you know Vanator Denusk? We were in the Great Hunt together in the Fall!" He grinned excitedly, feeling a true part of the Drykas when he could make such connections. "I'm Sama'el," he continued quickly in case Vanator had told her about the Hunt and his companion-hunters. "No pavilion anymore, but of the Sapphire Clan. I'm new to the Watch, actually, but trying to build up the resources and the reputation to start a new pavilion..."

[Kashik]

"Oh, they'll none of them fight me, and my relatives would box my ears if I went around picking fights just because I'm cranky," she laughed, giving the Strider a few more scritches before patting her lightly on the nose and turning the full of her attention on her rider.

"But yes, you could say I know Vanator," she said dryly, grinning again. "I'm his Firstwife, and this little bugger is his," she said, poking her tummy. "You were on the hunt with him? So you were there when Backlash fell to the serpent? You have my thanks for bringing him home safely then," she said, lifting her hand to touch fingertips to her brow in salute.

"And a fellow Sapphire Clansman! Then you must surely join us for dinner sometime. I've not the gift of cooking, but there are women in our pavilion who've a knack for it. Eligible women," she added slyly, waggling her eyebrows at him. "And if none of the Denusk women are interested, I've a few cousins in Brightsmile who'd not turn their noses up at a strapping Watchman," she snickered, teasing him as if they were already old friends. It was the way she'd always been - never known a stranger, and it'd gotten her out of almost as much trouble as it'd gotten her into.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"How can they not fight you if you're waving a spear at them and they're trying to box your ears?" he asked with a lopsided grin, his almond-shaped eyes almost disappearing in his laughing squint. "Well! He did say he had a beautiful wife, but I'm sure he didn't mention a sense of humor. Perhaps it's too often at his expense?" Still grinning, he slipped off of Dohaina's back with expert grace. "Anyway, we faced a great many dangers, but lived to tell the tales. He was surely more help than I was, what with his Webbing and all that experience." He liked to tell Vanator that he was practically an elder with all those many, many years. "Ahh, they will have to fight off Dymphna Whitefeather for being my first wife," he said, laughing a little and even coloring a bit, two points of pink on his cheeks. "But first thing's first... have to own a pavilion, start a herd, and all that... while not dying on the Watch. But food and female company, I cannot turn that down!"

[Kashik]

"Ah-ha!" she squealed, managing to grin even more brightly at this delicious piece of gossip. "Already with a suitor, hmm? Let's see, Whitefeather, Whitefeather..." she said, narrowing her eyes as she reviewed all the families she knew in Endrykas. Politics wasn't something she'd had cause to use lately, but she at least made sure she was well informed. "That's... Opal clan, yes? Good man, always a boon to have a healer in the pavilion. Assuming she does practice the healing arts?" she asked, brows raising.

Once he was dismounted, she waved him towards one of the little food carts nearby, determined to get another cup of tea. "Gods, I'm going to have to find a healer soon. Not that there's anything wrong so far," she said with a pat to her tummy, "but it's my first, and my husband's... well, the first he'll see born, and I'm a bit paranoid about it. Not a bad idea to have someone on hand, right? How about you, has Dymphna given you any wee ones yet?" she smirked.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Yes, a healer from the Opal Clan," he agreed. "If you don't have a healer already picked out, I could send her to your pavilion, or my friend, Denen Brokensong, another Opal healer... He wants to be a midwife. Well, midhusband?" He chuckled, though his face turned a bit more somber. "He recently saved my cousin from wounds earned from a Zith ambush, so he can probably save anyone from anything." He was, in fact, proud of all his friends and their accomplishments. "When you see Vanator, would you tell him that Eldon Sunkiss was wounded by Zith, but lives? He was on the Hunt with us, and one before that." He gestured to a nearby cart that had several tins and a pot of boiling water, surely a purveyor of tea for the Drykas on the go. "And we shan't have any little ones until we are wed, I think. Her father... he's a bear of a man. Initiated me into the Web and recommended me to the Watch. I respect him and Dymphna, so... Well, it will be a lonely time until he let's me marry her. But then, oh then..." He laughed, and colored a bit, his good humor returning. Eldon was going to live, after all, so his worries only occasionally bubbled to the surface, and then dissipated.

[Kashik]

She'd been walking towards the cart with all evidence of good humor - which disappeared in the instant he mentioned Eldon's name. Her face was transformed by a moment of fear, and she unthinkingly grabbed onto Sam's arm. "Eldon was attacked?" she breathed, the fear bleeding through her voice as well. "He yet lives, though, you said? Is he well? Will he recover?" The tea was completely forgotten as she shook his arm a little as if to get the answers out of him by force - though she gave him no time to reply to any of them.

"Does he have need of anything? He was a good friend to me as a child, though I haven't seen him much these last few years. I was pleased when Vanator told me of his survival of the hunt, but... please, give me news," she breathed, brows drawing over sparkling teal eyes.

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Surprised by her sudden vehemence, it took Sama'el a moment or two to process what all she had said, her statements and her questions. Shadows ran across his face like clouds before the sun, dimming him entirely. He shook his head and finally answered. "His father is dead, and his Strider." When she latched onto Eldon, his normal nature could not return to the forefront and he remained grave. "Denen kept his body alive, and I kept his spirit alive with talk of revenge. I don't know that it was the best thing, but it was all I could think about at the time. There was so much blood. "You should visit him. Denen's medicines will keep him asleep for the most part, sleep being the best healer, but loving faces will surely help to improve his spirits."