Homecoming (Miharu)

[Siiri]

Timestamp: 1st of Spring, 511 AV
Location: Eastern Coast of mainland Falyndar

The sky was bright and clear when they had left the port city of Yahebah the week previous, and so it was too when the lookout on the crow's nest shouted down to Siiri that he had spotted the small dock along the eastern coast of Falyndar. The Myrian stood up, gave a wan salute to the sailor, before working her way unsteadily towards the bow.

For the journey back to her homeland, Siiri had tried her best to conquer her seasickness. She was partially successful, to a point. The constant motion of the deck as the waves buffeted the small caravel still left her feeling queasy, though now she had only given up the contents of her stomach a total of five times (unlike the first time she took ship where she threw up two minutes after every meal) and the majority of that was at the beginning of the voyage. She had still lost weight (again), though not as bad as before, and the tan of her skin was now a dark bronze hue from all the exposure from Syna's unrelenting rays.

"Your man tells me the dock is near," she started as soon as she reached the captain's side.

"Aye, saw it through my spyglass myself," the captain agreed.

He was a broad, gruff man with a full beard and a shock of black hair the color of coal. He stood as tall as Siiri though not as intimidating and nowhere near as fierce-looking. He had an air of command about him and Siiri affording a little bit more respect than she did to other non-Myrians. An honest seaman working for a merchant, ferrying goods to and from coastal cities, he had agreed to drop her and Miharu along the coast as they made their way towards Syliras. Of course, it also helped that Siiri had paid him a great deal of gold, money she made from selling the camel mount she road to reach Yahebah, for him to get as close to Myrian territory as possible.

"You will drop us off the docks as agreed," Siiri said. It was a statement, an imperious one, and not a question. It left the captain looking warily at her from the corner of his eyes.

"I've been meaning to speak to you about that, barbarian..."

A frown formed like storm clouds upon Siiri's brow.

"You renege on our deal then?" she asked. She could sense the men within earshot tense at her words, fearing she would attack their dear captain. Siiri paid them no heed. From the start of the journey, the sailors had been uneasy about her presence on the ship despite the captain's reassurance that she and her companion were paying passengers. Everyone aboard knew the dark reputation of her people after all and Siiri always went about the ship fully armed, the sheen of her massive blade and the many scars on her body hints of the damage she could do should she be provoked. While she had seen many of the men bearing crossbows, no doubt used to repel the occasional pirate attack, they seemed hesitant to try and intimidate her with it, too afraid of how she might react. Privately, Siiri chuckled at them for she knew they could kill her with a single shot even before she could even pull out her sword but the men did not appear to realize this.

"Nay, nothing like that," the captain reassured her, his hand held up for peace. "You have to understand that no ship dares venture too close to the jungle's shores, let alone willingly dock at its port. I'll not risk running her aground on the shallows in case there are reefs and such about."

"You have an alternative, of course."

"I could sell you one of our rowboats..."

The frown deepened.

"I already paid you, and you are inconveniencing me," Siiri reminded him firmly.

The man shrugged. "Worth a shot. Can't blame a businessman for trying. Alright, I'll have one of my boys row you."

"Good."

"I'd like a guarantee that you won't kill him and take the boat for yourselves, however."

Siiri turned the full intensity of her glare at him then, her emerald orbs afire with barely contained fury. The captain appeared nervous but he matched her stare evenly, not in challenge but neither did he give way on his stance on the matter. He had backbone, Siiri had to give him that.

"Did you just insult me, human?"

"Nay...nay. I just care about my people. And I know what yours do to outsiders."

"He will come to no harm as long as he keeps himself on the boat. But have another come to shield him if you're so worried that arrows and spears might rain down upon his head."

"No..no need, Myrian. I trust you." The captain bowed in apology for any offense he might have caused.

Siiri could only grunt at him.

"Bring a spearman to accompany him anyway. The sandbar crocodiles are nasty around these parts." She grinned in grim satisfaction as the man paled at her statement, before turning to fetch Miharu.

"Inform me when it's time to go."

--/--

The rowboat was large enough to seat eight though there was only the four of them sitting upon its horizontal boards. The two sailors were rowing, faster than normal by Siiri's estimation, and the younger one was babbling incessantly, a coping mechanism to fear it seemed. Siiri ignored them both, keeping her attention focused on maintaining her balance on the small boat, her knuckles white as the frothy foam on the surface of the sea as she gripped her seat. It was times like this, being forced to ride on such a small craft and tossed about by the powerful waves, that the most poignant memory of her childhood came to haunt her.

And she had to fight the instinctive fear that threatened to engulf her, that sinking feeling of helplessness that froze her limbs all those years ago.

The water was still back then, so unlike the ceaseless push and pull of the tide in the present, and the boat she was on then was a bamboo raft rather than a rowboat. But now, as it was in the distant past, there were four of them the boat, though now there was only one among their numbers she would fight to the death for, the wolf-girl Miharu. She couldn't care less if two Dhani serpents burst out of the water's surface and attacked the men, but if her bondmate was threatened, be it by snake, crocodile or whatever monster the sea threw at them, she swore that it would die first before any harm befell the Kelvic.

Siiri took a deep breath. She had to calm herself; the nearness of the water was making her paranoid. She focused instead on Miharu. The girl sat across her, a look of concern stamped on her pretty features, no doubt affected by the emotions plaguing her Myrian mistress. She had yet to tell the girl why she had suddenly cut their journey to find a cure for her sister short. It was a little hard to explain to Miharu that it was because of a dream and the turbulent feelings the dream had brought her. Siiri thought to blame it on the strange magicks of Hai, but she just could not shake off the sense of loss it brought her. And so she had kept quiet, even when faced with the glances of worry the Kelvic always seemed to pass her ever since they escaped from the underground city-prison.

In an attempt to give comfort to the girl, to show Miharu that whatever inner turmoil she was going through was not because of her or anything she had done, Siiri reached over a tanned hand to clasp her bondmate's perpetually cream-colored skin, giving her a tentative smile.

"We're almost home."

She felt her hand tremble as she held the girl's hand, a sign of weakness certainly, as she fought off her fear of such a large body of water, but Siiri did not let go of Miharu's hand and tried to instill firmness and strength in her grip.

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu stared out at the churning waters of the sea, so close she could reach out and touch them. She wasn't thinking - was actively not thinking, her mind and heart a blank slate. Something of Hai was left in her, and she wasn't sure how to get it out. When she closed her eyes, she saw Koa's body ripped to pieces in front of her, and that awful, beautiful song played over and over again as she drifted to sleep. She didn't think it would ever leave her.

When Siiri took her hand, though, she felt the tremble in it - and glanced over at her bondmate with obvious worry. Something was wrong, had felt it crawling up her spine as soon as they'd gotten on this tiny rowboat, and only then seemed to realize that it had etched itself into lines in the corners of her mouth. Golden eyes turned to Siiri as she gripped her hand.

"What is wrong? You are... you are scared. What is here to make you scared? she asked in heavily accented Myrian, not wanting to spook the already jumpy sailors. But her eyes immediately started scanning the waters, and the shore, as if expecting to see some new horror appear.

[Siiri]

Siiri could only smile and shake her head at Miharu as she gripped the girl's hand tighter. No matter how much she tried to hide some of her more... delicate... emotions, it seemed as if the Kelvic could still pick them up with ease. Truly, their bond had progressed and developed so much that the wolf girl was almost an extension of her being. Things she liked, Miharu did as well, or at least she tried to. It was fortunate that they had precious few things to disagree on as they shared the same interests: hunting, combat, catching and skinning snakes and hoping they just caught a Dhani...Myrian stuff. Siiri could not help but smile at that.

"Nothing, Miharu. The sea and I just do not...mix well," she replied at length. She turned her head towards the beach, leading the Kelvic's gaze, where two large salt-water crocodiles had just slipped under the waves. "For many reasons."

They were still too far for the beasts to be of any threat to them, especially since they would not be making landfall in the sandy coast but instead stopping by the small pier, so she was not overly worried of their presence. Still, she unclipped her new mace just in case the crocodiles decided to attack their small boat. While the turbulent waters made it easy for them to hide their ridged backs in the surface, Siiri was prepared to cave their skulls in if one of them so much as showed its ugly reptilian face.

Two reptiles, one boat. Again, the Myrian thought, comparing the situation once more to a past experience. The experience. The one that she never could move past. She tried to shunt it back to the deepest layers of her mind, forcing herself instead to focus on the present. And its more pressing problems.

"Have you ever been afraid of coming home, Miharu?" Siiri asked at length. Her mind was not truly in the conversation, as could be seen in her gaze, which seemed so far away and not truly seeing what was around her. "I...I am. Right now. I'm terrified. Hai... Hai's magic gave me drea... visions..."

She paused, suddenly debating whether to continue or not, for wouldn't she look foolish if her fears were unfounded and untrue? Dreams were just dreams after all, nothing more. But she remembered who it was she was talking to. Miharu was not just anyone else, the girl was her bondmate! She should not be afraid to tell her anything.

And she was just about to, her mouth already open to let the words come out, to tell the girl of her dream, and what she feared to find when she arrived home, but an explosion of water from beside the boat interrupted her. The spray of saline was caused by a streamlined figure leaping out of the surface, its body arching to jump from one side of the boat to the other.

A Charoda!

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Siiri could make out every detail of her surroundings, from the way the fishman's small scales caught the glint of the sun's rays as it aimed to plunge back into the sea, to the surprised expressions on the sailors' faces, to the churning water left in the wake of the Charoda. She even had time to exchange a questioning look with Miharu, their brows furrowing in time with the other. Because of all of that, for some reason she could not even begin to explain, Siiri knew exactly what would happen next.

And so she was ready when time returned to its normal pace.

A long reptilian head burst forth from the exact same spot the Charoda had jumped out from, its long snout snapping after the heels of the small fish man. Siiri rose the same time as it did, in her hands the was heavy mace, gripped in a two-handed fashion. As soon as the crocodile's jaws snapped shut, she brought the weapon's flanged head crashing down on the beast's skull. There was a sickening thump, and the crocodile sank beneath the waves.

Unfortunately, she had rocked the boat violently with her actions. There was a loud splash, and Siiri quickly spread her stance to brace herself against the craft's undulating movement as she surveyed who among her companions had fallen into the water.

OOCNot as great a post as I would have liked. I have been uninspired lately. >.<

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu was trying to understand what Siiri meant about being afraid to go home. Was there danger there? Was she afraid of being cast out because of what happened in Hai? It didn't make sense to her. Those were the only reasons she really had experience with, the only things that had ever made her fear her home: violence and rejection. But she loved her bondmate, and her brow furrowed as she tried to understand the swirl of emotions that even those few words evoked in her.

Siiri was about to explain further - and then the world exploded.

Miharu knew the moment Siiri did what would follow behind the Charoda that flew between them. But even though she was a capable hunter, Miharu knew nothing of fighting these strange armored sea monsters. When Siiri drew her mace, Miharu slid to her feet and backed against the edge of the boat to give her enough room to swing it.

But what she knew of crocodiles, little thought it was, was more than she knew of boats. Or being in a boat. Or how boats reacted in the water. So when Siiri swung the mace and upset the boat, the wolf-girl was completely unprepared for the way it rocked beneath her feet. Her arms whirled wildly, but did nothing to keep her from pitching backwards.

There was a sickening crack! as her head bashed against the prow of the little dinghy. The connection between Siiri and Miharu cut off abruptly as she went immediately unconscious. And then the boat pitched again as Siiri drew back again, and Miharu rolled over the side and splashed into the water. By the time Siiri looked over to see who had been lost, there was nothing more than a blossom of blonde hair in the blood-tinged water, and then she was gone.

Long moments passed with nothing more than a few bubbles floating up among the waves as the two sailors shouted to each other and tried to get the situation under control.

Until a delicate green dorsal fin broke the surface of the water, and then a pair of black eyes that were immediately covered by a nictitating membrane as the warm air touched them. There was a single blink up at the Myrian, regret and fear clear even on those alien features - and then the Charoda shifted and pulled up the pale white body of her bondmate to float upon the surface of the waves, her honeyed curls dancing around her and blood still pouring from the gash at her temple. Cautiously, careful, the Charoda gave the girl's still form a shove that sent her floating to the side of the boat. Peaceful, were these creatures, and said to have an incredible respect for life, and it was these qualities that made them such easy prey for the Myrians - but it was also what saved the life of one today.

[Siiri]

Siiri only caught a glimpse of her bondmate's dirty blonde hair for a moment before even that sank into the murky depths. The girl must be unconscious, else she would have struggled to try and stay afloat. Siiri had certainly never seen her, not in the Basin, and certainly not in the sea. She was not sure if Miharu even knew how to swim. Panicked, the Myrian unslung the baldric that held Slayer and most of her daggers and threw it to the floor of the boat, preparing to leap after her bondmate.

A head broke the surface before she could, however. It was not Miharu's. It belonged to the Charoda.

Hate filled Siiri's eyes as she saw that alien visage, her expression making it clear to all who saw her that she blamed it for the fall of her bondmate. She stooped down to grasp the hilt of her greatsword, knowing full well that Slayer's long blade could reach and skewer the fishman's head without much difficulty.

But again the Charoda beat her to the punch. Before Siiri could pull her blade up, the fishfolk dragged the unconscious form of her bondmate up to the surface, gingerly cradling her head with its webbed hands to prevent the girl from inhaling more water. As carefully as a mother would lay a child she had rocked to sleep to bed, the Charoda shifted Miharu so that she floated face up and then pushed her off towards the boat. One of the oarsmen rushed to fish her out of the water with little prompting from his companion. Siiri hesitated for a moment before dropping her blade to help the man.

Miharu proved difficult to haul back in, deadweight as she was in her unconsciousness. But with the aid of the sailor, Siiri was able to do so between the two of them. She turned back to regard the Charoda - for what, she did not know.... to thank him perhaps? - but the fishman was nowhere to be seen. Siiri frowned, not sure how she felt about the act of kindness a creature her people hunted down had shown her by saving one of the people she cherished the most. Had the situation been reversed, if she had found one of the fishfolk bound by one of the traps left by the Myrians out in the jungle, she wondered, would she have done the same?

It was a scenario she had never stopped to consider and Siiri could only shake her head at it, shunting the strange and unfamiliar thoughts and the feelings that came with it, to be mulled over at a later date. For now, she had Miharu to care for.

Fishing into her pack, Siiri pulled out the first piece of cloth she got her hands on and pressed it against the nasty cut on the girl's temple. It was the white halter she had lent Miharu several seasons back. The cloth quickly turned crimson as it absorbed the girl's blood. Bracing the girl's head against her lap, Siiri then leaned down to give her mouth to mouth resuscitation. She noticed the man who had helped her still hovering nearby, watching her actions with open-mouthed fascination.

"Get rowing, meat," Siiri growled. She did not bother to wait and see if the man complied, pressing her lips against Miharu's as soon as she had uttered the words. She did hear him scrambling back to sit beside his friend, however.

With one hand pinching Miharu's nostrils shut and the other holding the girl's jaw up and forward, Siiri covered the Kelvic girl's mouth with her own and blew in two quick breaths before releasing to check the rise and fall of her chest. She drew her cheek close to the girl's nose and mouth to see if she had stimulated her into breathing on her own.

No response.

Siiri repeated the process, once more checking if the Miharu started breathing again. Still nothing.

"Come on!" she whispered harshly, desperation coloring her voice. Miharu had not breathed for almost a full chime now and Siiri was rightly worried. Her mouth covered the Kelvic's and she blew in once more, hoping that the girl would come around this time.

[Miharu Mindi]

Miharu came to herself all at once, golden eyes feral and wild with panic. Her lips curled back from her teeth and she went to give a bitter snarl - and the sound caught in her throat, turned into a cough, then a retch, and she rolled over onto her side to vomit. Great gouts of water spewed forth, and she gagged and choked on them for a few moments before she was able to draw a racking breath.

"Siiri!" she cried, pure panic gripping her as she clutched at her bondmate. It took her a moment to realize that the red haze in her vision and the coppery taste on her tongue was blood. Pupils dilated to black saucers, and another snarl escaped her lips.

The two men stared at the thrashing woman with their own sort of panic as the wolf-girl's brain made enough of a determination to identify danger! Without a thought in her head beyond survival, she turned on them and, if she wasn't stopped, would tear them to pieces to ensure her and her bondmate's safety.

[Siiri]

The stiff grip Miharu had on her arms was painful in their rigid tightness, her nails digging deep into Siiri's flesh, but the Myrian refused to hiss from the pain or even flinch. She could tell that the girl was panicked, terrified even, having just come so close to drowning and losing her life. Siiri tried to impart a sense of comfort and reassurance through their bond, but for one who experienced little of those emotions - not from her mother at least, and the loss of the aunt who did provide her of such had deprived her at an early age - she could only do so much. Miharu's agitation did not abate, and when the wolf-girl turned upon the sailors with a feral snarl, Siiri knew that the Kelvic's animal form had taken over and she had entered survival mode, perceiving anything and everything around her as a threat to her and her bondmate.

Siiri could not let that happen, not after these men had helped pull Miharu back in the boat. Not when she herself had given her word to their captain that no harm would befall them from her and hers.

"Miharu, no!" she hissed, even as she grabbed her bondmate's trailing arm as the girl lunged forward. Siiri yanked the Kelvic's wrist up towards her neck, not so much as to cause direct pain, but just enough to restrain her from moving forward. If Miharu persisted in doing so, the twisted limb would put immense pressure, not to mention cause no small amount of pain, on her shoulder. She hoped that the armlock was enough to hold the girl back from attacking. As an added measure, she hooked her leg on the opposite side around Miharu's middle to securely keep her in place. The move caused Siiri to fall back to the shallow bottom of the boat and she could feel the edge of the low bench biting against her spine but she dared not let go of her bondmate for the sake of the sailors' safety. Miharu was deceptively strong even in her human form and Siiri knew she had to keep a tight hold on her.

"Calm down! You're safe; you're with me," she whispered repeatedly. She did her best to modulate her voice to be soothing, hoping that it would be enough to get through Miharu's primal fury.

[Miharu Mindi]

It took several long moments for sense to return to the wolf-girl, for she tasted blood and felt pain, and that did nothing to abate her reaction at first. But it was necessary, for she would have killed the men with her teeth if she'd been released. It took nearly a full chime of snarling panic before Siiri's words began to penetrate the fog of instinct, and her growls died down until there was only her panting.

"Siiri?" she finally croaked, coughing as her throat reminded her that she'd just swallowed a great deal of salt water. "What-- what happened? Are we all right? Why am I bleeding?" she growled, fear taking the place of panic. As soon as some of the adreniline bled out of her veins, a wave of dizziness overtook her and she moaned. "I think I'm gonna be sick again," she said pitifully and, if released, would immediately bend to retch over the side of the boat.

[Siiri]

Nausea, though not her own, flooded Siiri's senses and she immediately released her hold on her bondmate. Stuck at the bottom of the small craft, it took her a moment to get up and rub the heaving Miharu's back.

"You...you fell off the boat. It was my fault; I wasn't thinking." She wanted to say more but she knew it would be lost on the girl as she disgorged what little remained in her stomach over the side of the boat. Instead, Siiri conveyed her apologies through her touch, one hand gently squeezing Miharu's shoulder while the other continued to stroke the girl's back.

Looking up, she noted that the boat was already a bow's shot away from the small wooden dock that was their destination and was drawing ever closer. To the untrained eyes of the sailors that rowed for them, the structure and the trees that surrounded it appeared empty.

Siiri knew differently.

Save for the booming of the surf crashing against the rocks on the nearby shore, there were no other sounds to be heard - a clear indication to the Myrian that her fellow warriors were nearby, watching, likely from the trees. It was likely too that one or more of them already had a bead on the sailors, poisoned arrows ready to be let loose from taut bowstrings. While she had no attachment to the men and would not particularly care if her people slew them and feasted on their flesh, Siiri reminded herself that she did give her word to their captain for their safe return.

Leaving Miharu for a moment, Siiri stood up, careful to balance herself as the craft surged with the waves. She cupped both hands at the sides of her mouth and let out a series of whoops and shrill cries, much to the surprise of the men. Already jittery from Miharu's outburst earlier, one of them stopped rowing, fear clearly set in his eyes. Siiri knew what he must be thinking: the savage Myrian had just sent a signal for their capture or death. Her people's reputation weren't just to scare children after all.

Siiri did nothing to dispel the man's terror, merely snapping at him to keep rowing. Fear for her people would prevent him (and others like him once he's spread the story of his survival to his mates) from ever stepping foot into Falyndar shores. Trespassers were never welcome in Myri's land.

Presently, the boat drifted alongside the dock. A figure stepped out of the trees as it did so, a Myrian warrioress with spear and shield in hand. Siiri recognized the person as Jakai, someone who had the same rank as her in the army. She had to pause for a moment as she tried to remember who the other woman served under. The answer made her curse softly under her breath.

"Miharu," she hissed to her bondmate, her tone urgent. "Get off the boat quickly! It's Kreesha's group!" To the sailors, she said, "Row back to your ship as fast as you can once we're off, if you value your lives! You have about three chimes to get out of arrow range."

The warning delivered, Siiri quickly scrambled up to the wooden docks, turning just as quickly to offer Miharu a helping hand. The sooner they were off, the sooner the sailors can get away.

But Jakai was upon them.

[Miharu Mindi]

By the time they reached the shore, Miharu had gotten her stomach under control and her head had stopped bleeding - mostly. Just a thin trickle of blood still made it's way down her face, and she was having a hard time keeping a thought in her head, but she shook herself at Siiri's shout and the sharp thrust of emotion as her bondmate identified the woman who came out of the jungle.

Miharu grabbed onto Siiri's hand and bounded out of the boat, heaving a sigh of relief to have her feet on solid ground again. She immediately felt better, and shoved her wet hair out of her face to get a better look at Jakai. The thick black slashes of ink across her face were unmistakable - though her coloring may have said otherwise, her tattoos said she was Myrian.

"We have returned home," she said simply, glaring over at Jakai and blinking golden eyes. Let the woman dare deny her entrance to Falyndar - the determination in her eyes said quite clearly that she wasn't in the mood to entertain someone trying to stop her.