To Explore, to Soar

[sera]

They were two of a type, yet nothing the same. A bit taller and leggier, the winged-marked grey lifted her head high, nostrils flaring as alert golden eyes scanned the forested area with keen interest. She had been on her way to becoming a second rate Hunter when the new Castes had magically appeared, allowing her to become a first class Explorer and saving her from a lifetime of mediocrity. Her gratitude was boundless, but only her high-energy was apparent now. A toss of her dark green locks accompanied a soft, vaguely exasperated sigh. She was certain Aniol was here; the Elders had informed her of his intention to explore. She was anxious to see her brother after almost a year separated. And, perhaps, to introduce him to her new companion. Bright yellow eyes slid from their careful perusal of her surroundings to begin an intense inspection of the gryvern at her side.

Gisele was Eastern through and through. She wasn't as leggy, perhaps a trifle stockier, and that long mane that followed her spine from head to tail! Vibrant, sharp green eyes studiously and calmly scanned their surroundings as her whiskers twitched in accompaniment to the fast working of her nose. The Easterns were always a bit more sensitive to their surroundings, and Zefiryn was certain those whiskers were the key. However, they, or at least Gisele, could be oddly blind to anything she'd already identified. Even now the blue gryvern seemed oblivious to her compatriot's long-lasting glance.

The whiskers twitched again and Gisele turned to look to the north. Since becoming an Explorer, Zefiryn's sense of direction had unerringly improved. She didn't know if Gisele had needed the boost their Caste gave them; she was rather close-mouthed about her past home. As were most Easterns.

"We are not alone." Gisele had a low, soothing voice, even when offering pronouncements better proclaimed with panic.

Zefiryn turned in the appropriate direction herself, ears flicking up. That was her claim to fame in this partnership; she, and her brother, had some excellent hearing with their strange, stream-lined ears. "It's at least as large as a naa, probably that of a gryvern," she reported, trying to keep the excitement from her voice and movements. Gisele was constantly reminded her to keep her calm. Nevertheless, she couldn't keep her pitch from rising, though she did keep her volume low, "Do you think it's a foe?"

Gisele didn't yet answer, nose and whiskers still working deliberately as she tried to sort through the unknown scents of this woods for wotever was approaching them. She did not, however, have the advantage of being downwind this time. She wondered if their soon to be visitors knew they were here.


www.deviantart.com/view/30854960/ -- gisele
www.deviantart.com/view/30760072/ -- zefiryn
(( edit: please limit this to ppl who have time to reply regularly and often. xD;;;;; ))

[Dawby]

www.geocities.com/empressdawby/graphics/kalina.gif

Technically, Kalina really had no business being so far away from home on her own. Technically, her parents would be fairly irate if they learned that the quietest of their still young offspring was wandering about in a completely different world than that in which she was supposed to be living. This wasn't even taking into account how badly Dawby was likely to flip out once she realized Kalina was gone and started vividly imagining exactly how Jaradka was likely to hold her responsible if anything happened to her daughter .

But Kalina didn't quite feel she fit in over at the resort and reservation yet, and rather than spend another day avoiding other inhabitants to mask her lack of friends thus far, she'd simply decided to take a walk.

"I am independent," she told herself out loud as she padded through the forest. Her deep rust coat stood at from the pale green leaves in the same way her electric blue markings stood out from the rest of her body.

[sera]

Zefiryn tilted her head slightly as she caught part of a sentence. "Something about independence," she reported to her friend curiously. "There's a voice, feminine. . . perhaps young." Perhaps. She doubted her reports since a bad incident with a Poisontail.

"Then so it is," Gisele replied with quiet confidence. She hadn't lost faith in her friends abilities. "Approaching us?"

"She'll pass slightly to the west if we don't move to intercept. We could evade easily."

Gisele was silent for a moment, then turned to meet her comrade's golden gaze. Zefiryn almost constantly looked surprised with those wide, yellow orbs. Of course, she -was- often surprised. So perhaps it wasn't simply an act. They were looking to find Aniol and the oncoming. . . wotever it was, wasn't him. But she wasn't adverse to discovering wot was wandering these quiet woods as well.

Zefiryn read it in the Eastern's startling gaze, and gave a nod. Her sense of adventure was well-developed and easily excitable. Hardly surprised with how closely that followed her personality. "Right, let's go then!" She bounced forward swiftly, followed rather sedately by Gisele. They positioned themselves so the 'trespasser' would come upon them. . . as long as she remained on her current path.

[Dawby]

Kalina trotted on blithely, perfectly unaware that she was not alone. For now she was simply enjoying her solitude, the smell of the dirt, the whisper of the trees, the singing of the birds. Um, no. No birds. Weird. Well, they had been singing before. No matter. As she rounded a curve in the path, she began humming to herself.

[sera]

The pair of gryvern listened as the approach grew steadily closwer and closer. They certainly saw her before she saw them, and Zefiryn tilted her head in almost recognition. The creature approaching them, humming of all the wonderful quirks, Zefiryn couldn't help a brief grin at the sound, looked mostly like a gryvern, but there was something undefinably not complete for her to be a gryvern. Perhaps this was one of those strange mixes she'd heard rumours of? The Air tried to catch a more complete look.

Gisele steadily watched the deep red being in the brief flashes the trees gave them. She was quiet when the youngster broke through the final trees and brush separating them, and simply tilted her head slightly, causing the bangs to shift partially across her vision inadvertently.

The noctiyer before them was lovely to the eye, though Gisele sensed a vague hint of wrongness to her overall form. It was those vibrant blue markings and the wings, the Eastern finally decided. They gave her away as not full-blooded. But her shock, nevertheless, was still less than Zefiryn who was staring with unabashed amazement, though she really just looked shocked. And, it was Zefiryn who finally burst out, "Wot are you?"

[Dawby]

The little red mix let out a shriek of pure shock at the sudden intrusion in her little daydream, wings flapping, packpeddling in alarm, so swiftly that she rose several inches off the ground before coming down to earth again with a little bump. Two females of her father's kind. Familiar. Safe.

As her racing heart began to calm, she replayed the question from the smoky gray with the bright golden eyes. She'd never heard that question before. When she'd left home to live with Dawby, Dawby had simply introduced her to everyone by name. And certainly her father or mother had never labeled her as anything other than daughter, nor her siblings as anything but sister.

And so the question confused her.

"I'm - a... a... I'm -" she fumbled awkwardly, feeling the expectation to answer but not knowing how to go about it. "I'm, ah, Kalina."

[sera]

"Your name, to be sure," Zefiryn answered a bit impatiently, but halted when her companion took a step forward. The multi-blue gryvern tilted her head slightly as she inspected the mix. After a long moment she said, "I am Gisele. This is Zefiryn. We are curious as to your origins."

"Who are your parents?" The grey clarified. It seemed loud compared to the quiet calm of her friend, but really she was only speaking in normal tones.

[Dawby]

Kalina still wasn't sure about all this origins and "what are you" stuff, but she knew who her parents were.

"My mother's name is Jaradka," she said, one long, elegantly sculpted ear twitching shyly as she settled herself in an upright sitting position on the path. "She isn't like you, but my father is. His name is Casimir. He's a great warrior!"

This last she said proudly. She'd never been able to coax many stories out of her beloved father, but she knew he was fierce and brave just as surely as she knew he loved her.

[sera]

"Casimir?" Zefiryn echoed suddenly with surprise. "Casimir has offspring?" That was obviously a rhetorical, and silly, question, as the truth of his offspring was right there in front of them. Golden gaze flicked to her friend and she gave her a look that bespoke her amazement. "Casimir has kids!"

"Apparently," Gisele replied easily, amused by the other's excitement, yet not falling victim herself. Vibrant eyes moved back to Kalina. "And wot, pray tell, is your mother?" Her tail flicked around slightly her hind leg, trailing long dark hair across the deep blue foot.

[Dawby]

Her mother? Well, crazy came to mind, as did spontaneous, exciting, and fun.

Kalina tilted her head to the side, closed her eyes, and smiled slightly, thinking about her mother's mannerisms. When Kalina had been very small, she had rarely spoken at all, and when she had, she'd mimicked her mother's odd, lilting voice, and her habit of referring to everyone else around her "prey." But as she'd grown older, she'd picked up her father's more conventional speech, as the befuddled stares from non-family members when she opened her mouth made her even more self-conscious than she usually felt.

Oh.

She popped open one eye. They were still staring at her in curiousity. Whoops. What had they asked her again? Something about her mother.

"Oh," she said lamely, ears drooping. "She's ..um, a hunter."

[sera]

"We're going in circles," Zefiryn pointed out as though Kalina wasn't standing right there and perfectly able to hear everything they said. Gisele sent her a dour look, and she tilted her head. "Wot?"

"Well, Kalina, daughter of Casimir and Jaradka the hunter, we hope it will be a pleasure to make your acquaintance," the Eastern put in calmly. Kalina's strange mannerisms might be nothing compared to the pair before her now. They didn't seem any more socially able.

"Wot are you doing here?" Zefiryn asked abruptly, head tilting back the other way with those bright eyes still wide and watchful. She wondered if the little. . . mix or wotever she was, knew where Aniol might be.

[Dawby]

The noctiyer, who had looked almost panicked at Zefiryn's rather frustrated observation, perked up again at Gisele's gentle, formal greeting. As soon as the grey spoke again, however, Kalina's eyes grew evasive.

Uh-oh. This was their land, she wasn't supposed to be here, they knew Dawby, they definitely knew her father, they were so going to tell, she was totally in trouble.

"Ahh... um," she stalled. "I'm, ah... walking. Yeah."

[sera]

The pair of Airs exchanged another brief glance, and a world of discussion seemed to pass through it. They both caught the evasion in the youngster's voice, but they both agreed it likely wasn't worth pursuing now. Zefiryn, however, couldn't help a swift moment of baiting. "Just walking?" She gave a slight, lop-sided grin, however, letting the question slide by on the back of a more important one, "Do you know this area?"

The other Explorer let her nose and whiskers begin their gentle dance again, though she hadn't yet smelled anything suspicious. She was still listening closely, however.

[Dawby]

"Umm.... no." Kalina reached a hindleg forward to scratch at the base of her wing. "I was uh, you know, exploring?"

She peeked upwards through her lashes, waiting to see if Zefiryn and Gisele bought this story. Geez, they were asking a lot of questions. Maybe they weren't going to tell on her, though.

"Is this -" she hesitated. "- your land?"

[sera]

Zefiryn gave a sudden laugh at that last question, perhaps a startling sound for all its gentleness. "No, no, not our land. We've only just arrived ourselves." She turned to look back to Gisele. "I would take that to mean Kalina is as wise of this area as we are."

The Eastern agreed with a slight nod, wondering wot their best course of action might be. "Perhaps we should simply continue. We have no clues other than the first. It does not behoove us to remain here."

The two didn't seem to realize they were talking around Kalina.