Post by Stranger on Oct 11, 2010 8:58:05 GMT -8
(OOC > Feel free to come in. Horatio won't get much showing as he's still an NPC at this point.)
It was a simple thing, so simple - a mound of earth amidst the verdant grass, marked with an etching resembling a dog and a few stones ranged in a circle. Sunlight, pale and wan through the clouds, danced in soft reflections on the rain-stewn grass as the wind pulled light threads of hair over her face. She raised a hand, half-fingered at its leftmost extremities, to tuck them back behind her ear, and the light caught her long grass-green tunic, the dull sheen of her brown leggings and worn leather sandals. Light glanced over her tanned features, highlighted the taunt stretch of bone on what might have been a youthful face; sketched out lines as fine as slivers over her cheeks. She crouched to pat the mound with one hand as her voice fade out with the breeze.
"Farewell."
A huff answered her. The big furred shape standing stiff-legged beside her sighed, tongue hanging out as it lifted heavy canine muzzle to the growing wind. It barked, once, and Rainer raised her head, then straightened into a standing posture at the sight of another human approaching. For a brief instant her unscarred hand feinted for the dagger at her belt as she braced her shoulders forward and her feet back and into a crouch. Then she relaxed as she recognized the young man coming towards her, and her hand went to the dog's head to keep him still. The newcomer nodded to her as he paused before the mound. The pale sunlight found the light brown of his tunic and washed it out further, making out the soft hues of his darker leggings look gray rather than black. He was quiet, as if he knew he had interrupted a private moment, and after a moment of silence she finally responded to his nod with an inclining of her head.
"Rainer," the black-haired man spoke, "You're alone."
There was surprise in his tone, surprise and concern perhaps; but Rainer's eyes flashed, and defensive restraint tinged her words as her gaze flicked back to the mound and the spade beside it.
"...Yes, alone. Burying Connura. He served me well."
And indeed he had. The big guard dog had been severely injured in the koxi attack of 2 years ago, and had never truly recovered from his wounds. Somehow he had not died but had lived in spite of them, tough and enduring; carrying his scarred frame for three long years until the move to Chydyn, where his gallant heart finally gave out on his ailing body. Her eyes misted. It was the same attack that had killed her sister, the same attack that which now surfaced unwanted in her memory at the implied question in the young man's words - why was she alone? Alone out here, in the open, where the xymokoxi might come, might...
She shrugged the thoughts aside, refusing to meet the other's eyes, "You were looking for me?"
The young man watched her, calm and measuring, his features unreadable. Or perhaps he was simply deciding how to answer. He turned to eye the mound as she was doing, his stiff poise slackening a tad as his gaze went on beyond it, scanning the forest edges around them.
"Only to tell you your brother is looking for you. There's been a new batch of horses from Sayaie. Believe you're wanted."
The anger washed out of Rainer at the quietness in his voice, the clipped tones of his speech. Horatio had meant well by his concern; he had not intended to call up old memories she no longer wished to come upon, even by accident. He did not deserve anger, certainly not the anger of a girl who could not control her own fears. And hadn't he come out looking for her, knowing full well the dangers of this open knoll, a rare clearing within the trees of Chydyn? She had Fang with her, of course, and he was a seasoned guard; but a lone dog was scarce deterrent against bandits. And nothing at all against koxi.
The young man cleared his voice again and she glanced up.
"I'll be...down by that tree when you're ready."
He turned without another word and started down the small hill, leaving her with her dogs. For a while longer, at least. A soft grin pulled at her lips. Horatio, for all his quietness, was nothing if not discreet. And he was usually not given to recklessness as she was. Rainer was sure she would find more than one person waiting at the trees when she finally chose to go down, and that at least one of them would have some means of alerting the simourv watchers against koxi.
Koxi. The very thought of them pulled at her, turning the soft shadows beneath the trees into nightmare fantasies, twisting in a blackened memory like the hollow of a tree struck by lightning. Rainer let out a breath, feeling Fang circle around her legs and push his head under her left hand in concern, and focused on the emerald-tipped grasses at her feet. Small flecks of dews gave prominence to their blades, like lines of green decked in beryls, in small jewels. Two minutes, just two minutes more of peace, and she would pick up the spade and go back to her brother and the horses.
It was a simple thing, so simple - a mound of earth amidst the verdant grass, marked with an etching resembling a dog and a few stones ranged in a circle. Sunlight, pale and wan through the clouds, danced in soft reflections on the rain-stewn grass as the wind pulled light threads of hair over her face. She raised a hand, half-fingered at its leftmost extremities, to tuck them back behind her ear, and the light caught her long grass-green tunic, the dull sheen of her brown leggings and worn leather sandals. Light glanced over her tanned features, highlighted the taunt stretch of bone on what might have been a youthful face; sketched out lines as fine as slivers over her cheeks. She crouched to pat the mound with one hand as her voice fade out with the breeze.
"Farewell."
A huff answered her. The big furred shape standing stiff-legged beside her sighed, tongue hanging out as it lifted heavy canine muzzle to the growing wind. It barked, once, and Rainer raised her head, then straightened into a standing posture at the sight of another human approaching. For a brief instant her unscarred hand feinted for the dagger at her belt as she braced her shoulders forward and her feet back and into a crouch. Then she relaxed as she recognized the young man coming towards her, and her hand went to the dog's head to keep him still. The newcomer nodded to her as he paused before the mound. The pale sunlight found the light brown of his tunic and washed it out further, making out the soft hues of his darker leggings look gray rather than black. He was quiet, as if he knew he had interrupted a private moment, and after a moment of silence she finally responded to his nod with an inclining of her head.
"Rainer," the black-haired man spoke, "You're alone."
There was surprise in his tone, surprise and concern perhaps; but Rainer's eyes flashed, and defensive restraint tinged her words as her gaze flicked back to the mound and the spade beside it.
"...Yes, alone. Burying Connura. He served me well."
And indeed he had. The big guard dog had been severely injured in the koxi attack of 2 years ago, and had never truly recovered from his wounds. Somehow he had not died but had lived in spite of them, tough and enduring; carrying his scarred frame for three long years until the move to Chydyn, where his gallant heart finally gave out on his ailing body. Her eyes misted. It was the same attack that had killed her sister, the same attack that which now surfaced unwanted in her memory at the implied question in the young man's words - why was she alone? Alone out here, in the open, where the xymokoxi might come, might...
She shrugged the thoughts aside, refusing to meet the other's eyes, "You were looking for me?"
The young man watched her, calm and measuring, his features unreadable. Or perhaps he was simply deciding how to answer. He turned to eye the mound as she was doing, his stiff poise slackening a tad as his gaze went on beyond it, scanning the forest edges around them.
"Only to tell you your brother is looking for you. There's been a new batch of horses from Sayaie. Believe you're wanted."
The anger washed out of Rainer at the quietness in his voice, the clipped tones of his speech. Horatio had meant well by his concern; he had not intended to call up old memories she no longer wished to come upon, even by accident. He did not deserve anger, certainly not the anger of a girl who could not control her own fears. And hadn't he come out looking for her, knowing full well the dangers of this open knoll, a rare clearing within the trees of Chydyn? She had Fang with her, of course, and he was a seasoned guard; but a lone dog was scarce deterrent against bandits. And nothing at all against koxi.
The young man cleared his voice again and she glanced up.
"I'll be...down by that tree when you're ready."
He turned without another word and started down the small hill, leaving her with her dogs. For a while longer, at least. A soft grin pulled at her lips. Horatio, for all his quietness, was nothing if not discreet. And he was usually not given to recklessness as she was. Rainer was sure she would find more than one person waiting at the trees when she finally chose to go down, and that at least one of them would have some means of alerting the simourv watchers against koxi.
Koxi. The very thought of them pulled at her, turning the soft shadows beneath the trees into nightmare fantasies, twisting in a blackened memory like the hollow of a tree struck by lightning. Rainer let out a breath, feeling Fang circle around her legs and push his head under her left hand in concern, and focused on the emerald-tipped grasses at her feet. Small flecks of dews gave prominence to their blades, like lines of green decked in beryls, in small jewels. Two minutes, just two minutes more of peace, and she would pick up the spade and go back to her brother and the horses.
