With it being early morning, Nyal and Soliene have become far too awake to even think of going back to sleep. With no plan whatsoever, Soliene did her best to see both what Nyal already knew of Acamese and what she didn’t. The results weren’t exactly surprising, with the Harpen’s knowledge being beyond limited, but she was sure she would find a way to work with it. After all, she had wanted to become a teacher before her entire life spiraled downward. Tutoring Nyal would be a great way to live it out, even if she knew she wasn’t the teacher that they truly needed.
As Gis faded into the horizon and Rul started to shine day upon Rag’na’rog, Reonda and Teolus roused from their sleep. As they did, Nyal and Soliene looked at them with wildly different reactions on their faces. While the Harpen rushed to her side in joy, Soliene sat in silent fury and unseen fear. Not fear for herself, but for Nyal, who had no clue who it was she was in front of her. The thought of them getting hurt frightened her in a way that she had never felt with anyone else before. At the end of it all, she only got up and walked over to Reonda for the sole purpose of keeping her… student safe.
Yes, her student. That was totally the right word for how she felt towards Nyal.
“That you, Nyal?” Reonda asked half asleep.
The tone was enough for Nyal to get an idea of what she was asking, and gave an uncertain nod in response. The Harpen flinched as she saw Teolus flap off of Reonda and onto her shoulder, nuzzling her cheek with his beak. As they did, Reonda got up into a sitting position, stretched her back out, and looked to the slowly approaching Soliene. The Numaran’s stern expression had been one the Acamian had gotten used to in the past twenty-four hours. The distrust was clear, and Reonda knew there was nothing in that moment she could do to change their thoughts of her.
“Ayea’e Reonda ayea’e Reonda?” Nyal asked.
The sound of her name caused Reonda to look at the young hen before looking back at Soliene. While she didn’t speak, Soliene knew from the look of confusion what it was the girl wanted her to do. Part of her considered refusing to translate, but a glance at Nyal caused the Numaran to sigh. If not for the Acamian, she would do it for her student.
“She wants to know if you are okay,” Soliene replied with a hint of anger in her voice. Her eyes didn’t meet Reonda as she spoke, transfixed on a spot between them and Nyal that held nothing interesting whatsoever.
“Oh. I’m fine,” She lied. Teolus tilted his head, knowing it wasn’t true.
“Well if so, then I guess it is time for us to get moving,” Soliene replied, shrugging. She could tell just as well as the hawk she wasn’t being truthful, but she didn’t care enough to say anything about it. “Nyal was already informed on where we are going. Probably because of the High Oracle.”
Reonda looked at Nyal with a mixture of jealousy and pain filling her gut. Having gotten to know Pho over the past twenty-four hours of traveling, it hit her just how horrible she, no, her parents had been. She continued to tell herself she wasn’t responsible for all that she had done, but it didn’t stop the fact she was sharing her body with a monster. She wished that she could have Pho’nix’ea instead of Il’jan’i in her mind.
“Stop denying the truth. I am you!” Il’jan’i screamed, causing her vessel to shudder.
“Ayea’e Reonda ayea’e Reonda?!” Nyal called out, crawling to the Acamian with worry. Soliene did similarly, though it was to hold Nyal back with her arms.
Reonda’s eyes snapped back to Nyal, and then away. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let's get moving.”
She got to her feet, ignoring the grunt of annoyance from Il’jan’i. Teolus and Nyal watched her as the Acamian checked the fire to make sure it was fully extinguished. There was clear concern in both of their eyes, both knowing that she was lying. In Nyal’s case, she didn’t even need to understand what they had said to know they were pushing something to the side. She could only guess it was because of Il’jan’i, though she hadn’t seen Pho’s draconic sister to know for sure.
Soliene, on the other hand, couldn’t care less and looked away.
Once she was sure the fire had been put out, Reonda was as ready as she would ever be to start walking. Teolus took to the sky above them, eyes peeled on any possible prey that would serve as not just good food for him, but for his master and her companions too. Reonda had found that hunting was a great way to distract her mind, and even better at tuning Il’jan’i out. All she had to do was wait for Teolus’ word, her dark magic engulfing her left hand in anticipation for when the target showed.
Nyal watched her curiously, noticing the focus that Reonda was giving the surrounding landscape. After a time, she joined the Acamian in scouring the landscape for anything of interest, wondering if she could find whatever they were looking for. Despite her best efforts, Soliene couldn’t help but chuckle as she watched the harpens intense and almost dramatic style of scanning the plains. The chuckle had brought Nyal’s attention to her, the hen looking at her curiously.
All Soliene could do is look away and blush.
After some time, Teolus spotted something and started to circle above. Noticing this, Reonda motioned for Nyal and Soliene to stop moving, the latter complying and forcing Nyal back. When the Harpen went to ask what was going on, Soliene held a finger to her lips. Nyal gave a nod, and turned her attention back to Reonda who was still holding her right hand up. The Acamian stayed peeled for a moment, before looking to the seemingly untouched high grass before them and closing her hand into a fist.
That was the signal, and Teolus didn’t wait a second after seeing it to dive towards the ground. Mere inches from the ground, his talons warped themselves around the body of a rabbit that had attempted to hide in the tall grass. With the rabbit having no chance to escape, the hawk brought it to his master. Having not bothered to watch the Acamian and hawk hunt previously, Nyal found herself in awe at the efficiency displayed before her. It reminded her of watching her mother and father hunt.
Nyal felt herself physically wince as she thought of her parents. She missed them so, so much.
“Good job Teolus,” Reonda said, taking the rabbit in her dark magic engulfed hand and allowing Teolus to rest on her shoulder. For a moment, Nyal could see easily the purest smile she had seen from the Acamian since they met. It fell away as Reonda looked at the rabbit squirming in fear in her hand. “Now, to take care of this.”
Her hand gripped the rabbit tighter, though it did nothing to stop the noises and squirming the animal was causing. At least, it didn’t seem like it at first. In the span of thirty seconds, the dark energy from her hand seeped its way into the rodent's body. Its breathing grew softer, making less noise and wiggling far less as its energy and life was sapped from it. When those thirty seconds were up, all breath had halted, and the life that had once coursed through the rabbit had been gone.
“This will be for Teolus. I’m running low on meat for him in my pouch,” Reonda said, holding up the now dead rabbit in her hands to both Nyal and Soliene. “Next thing I find is for us.”
“Anyone ever told you that there are less unsettling ways to take a life?” Soliene asked, taking a step away from the Acamian.
Before Reonda could respond, a small ball of flame bigger than the dead rabbit’s body appeared from its chest. The Acamian stepped back in confusion and worry, not taking notice of the stare Soliene was giving it. They all watched as the orb of fire approached Nyal, the Harpen backing away once she realized it was after her. She didn’t know what it was, why it had appeared, or why it was after her. All she knew was that fire burned, and the last thing she wanted was to feel death’s embrace again.
Stolen story; please report.
She only stopped when she felt her tails act on their own, one ribbon moving in front of her. It stopped her just long enough for the orb of fire to reach her, something Nyal had noticed had gotten faster till it was only a foot away from her. Instead of torching her like she had originally feared, however, it instead collided with her tail and fused with it, making Hel glow for a moment before returning to normal, leaving the hen perplexed.
“Just like two days ago,” Soliene whispered. She watched as Nyal tried to get a better look at her tails, as if it would help her understand better what had just happened.
“Wait, you’ve seen this before?” Reonda asked the Numaran. Soliene ignored her, attention drawing back to Teolus who was taking a more defensive posture. “Teolus, you okay?”
“Death! Death before us!” Teolus squawked, his sudden aggression getting Nyal’s attention. His voice was mixed with fear and anger, beating his wings in the air in an attempt to look more powerful than he truly was. “Angel of death, begone! Leave us! Leave us!”
Reonda blinked and looked toward Nyal. “Angel of… death?”
The Acamian didn’t notice that Nyal had started to approach Teolus in an attempt to calm the hawk. Not right away at least, but when she had Nyal was too close for her to do anything. Wing outstretched, Teolus still trying to act tough and squawking madly, Reonda didn’t think quick enough to stop what she believed was an inevitable attack. Soliene had rushed to do the same, but not a second later did both witness a rather odd change of events.
Instead of attacking the harpen, Teolus seemed to cower under Nyal’s wing. He didn’t move, nip at her wing, or make a single noise as he shivered in place. The harpen had no idea why they seemed so scared, Soliene and Reonda watching on similarly confused at the events. When Nyal finally removed her wing from the hawk’s head, Teolus inched closer to Reonda in fright. It was only after the Acamian petted him herself that he seemed to truly calm down, though his eyes were still peeled on Nyal.
“Reonda. Who is the new harpen?” The hawk asked.
Reodna raised an eyebrow at her familiar’s words. “What do you mean Teolus? There is just Nyal here.”
“J-j-just Nyal?” Teolus questioned. He got a nod from his master. “If that is Nyal, then why does she smell like death?”
----------------------------------------
After numerous reassurances to Teolus that it was indeed Nyal who had stood before her, Reonda and the hawk turned back to hunting. Their luck seemed to nosedive after the incident, with barely any animals making themselves known. Reonda had her theories but she had kept them to herself. Besides, with enough time having passed since that, she had finally remembered something Soliene had said to her. Something that still greatly confused her.
The woman who had called Soliene “beastkin”… or at least Reonda assumed they were a woman. Soliene had thought differently and she had been far too stressed or angry the day before for the Acamian to consider asking. So, when day came and went and they started to get ready for dinner, Reonda knew she had her chance. Nyal had turned her attention to her Historia, which she hoped would keep them invested in case her question asked trouble. So, as she skinned the fur from a squirrel she and Teolus had caught, the Acamian made her move.
She had not expected the surprise on the Numaran’s face when being asked about it.
“You… actually care enough to listen?” Soliene asked her. While the Numaran didn’t like the Acamian, she had offered to help out with preparing food and a fire for the night. “I didn’t think you would actually remember that little conversation.”
“I said I wanted to be a better person when we talked in Makaus,” Reonda reminded the girl next to her. “Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but what happened clearly showed a gap in my knowledge.”
A part of Soliene wanted nothing more than to find a hole in the Acamian’s answer and poke at it. She didn’t, however, mostly due to how genuine Reonda actually sounded about it all. The mere fact the Acamian remembered their exchange was shocking. The last thing she wanted was to give a Perciple even more reason to hate their kind then they all already had. So, with a deep breath in, Soliene did her best to figure out how to broach a topic she wasn’t prepared to talk about.
“Well, there are people out there not born into the right body for them,” Soliene explained. “Those people tend to feel the wrong gender, or that neither gender correctly represents them. So, people ask to be treated as the identity they have given themselves instead of the one assigned at birth.”
“And that is considered normal?” Reonda asked, doing her best to ignore the snickering of Il’jan’i in her head.
When Soliene nodded, she was certain her heart skipped several beats. The knife she was using on the squirrel nearly slipped and hit her thumb, an uneasiness setting in her stomach. Il’jan’i’s laughter seemed to only get worse after Soliene’s wordless answer, and more worryingly directed. Despite it, Reonda did her best to push on and continue talking.
“We are familiar with people who believe their birth gender to be incorrect in Acamus, but I was always told it was horrible mental disability,” Reonda replied. Judging by the way Soliene gritted her teeth and her movements became more stiff, she could already tell what she was saying didn’t sit right with the Numaran. “I guess Reine, New Numar, and Ekra Eshan don’t agree with that.”
“Yep. After learning the Harpen weren’t bad, I figured you would realize that is wrong as well,” Soliene said, putting more than enough attitude into her words to make Reonda feel guilty. “Guess you aren’t changing as much as you said you were.”
The Acamian looked away, biting her lip. Il’jan’i was impossible to not hear, laughing madly at Reonda. Her stomach grew more upset, the movement of her knife less refined. A part of her wanted to take a shot back at Soliene, remind her that all she had known for most of her life was what Acamus taught her, but it wouldn’t matter. Soliene didn’t care enough for those words to mean anything, so she did her best to stay on the original topic.
“So that human I thought was a woman was just born in the wrong body?” She asked, praying her question wouldn’t cause another harsh reply. “That is why you said they were a man?”
“As far as I could tell, yep,” Soliene said as she finished preparing the squirrel to be cooked. She grimaced at her gore-covered furred hands, shaking them in hopes that a little would get off. “Whether he hates me or not, I’m not about to fan those flames further by disrespecting his very identity.”
“I… think I understand that part,” Reonda responded, her voice grim.
Il’jan’i’s voice felt so forward in her mind it felt like they were breathing into her ear. Her eyes stayed on Soliene, watching the Numaran skewer the skinned squirrel on a stick. She could tell it was where Il’jan’i was looking as well, though why she didn’t know. At least she didn’t, until the Oracle spoke up with a tone too nice to truly be real.
“Go on, ask her what you want to. Ask her about Kali.”
“S-S-Soliene?” Reonda called out as she looked back to the Numaran. They were currently wiping their hands on the grass to get the blood off her hands. Reonda froze up when they looked at her, unable to say what she wanted to say. “I, um, thanks for telling me all that.”
“Uh, no problem.” Soliene said as she stared at the Acamian. The sincerity of the thanks caught her off guard, but not enough to make her forget about the blood covering her hands. “I think I need to go wash myself in a river. Do you know if one is nearby?”
As Reonda’s own hands were also covered in squirrel flesh, she turned to Teolus instead of her Historia. The hawk knew what she was gonna ask him without saying a single word, doing his best to give the avian equivalent of a pout in response. Reonda responded by motioning to Soliene with her head. While Teolus wasn’t happy, the obedience that came with being a familiar made it impossible for him to say no. With a few flaps he took off into the sky.
“He’ll find you one. Hopefully it isn’t too far away,” Reonda replied.
“Got it. I’ll be back as quickly as possible,” Soliene replied. She turned and started following the hawk for a moment before turning back to Reonda. “Oh, and one more thing. If you are being serious about wanting to learn and be a better person then…”
The Acamian looked at her at that moment. Despite her best attempts, Soliene found it impossible to respond while keeping eye contact. She grabbed where her missing eye should have been as she turned away. It was impossible to let go of the fear and pain that had been in her since that day. After all, if it wasn’t for Reonda’s family there would be no northern sea blockade. If there was no blockade then Nyal would be in Ekra Eshan, and if that was the case then she… she would still have her eye.
Right?
The hand gripping her empty eye socket fell back down to her side. She wanted nothing more than to smack herself as her brain came to one conclusion: all her pain was because of Acamus. Behind her, trying to act as if nothing had ever happened, was one the daughter of the people most responsible for not just her current suffering, but the pain of others. Her hands formed into fist, ignoring the uncomfortable feeling of blood, fur, and guts sliding across them as she continued marching on.
With her voice as still as stone, Soliene spoke up. “Forget I said anything.”
All Reonda could do was wince at her tone and wonder what it would take for Soliene to not see her as an enemy.