[WE] Strange Weather [Elsheba/Mnyiri]

[Painted Moose]

[Tale, Sauti, and Oba are experiencing massive amounts of rain to the point that some of the desert is flooding.]

Mnyiri knew little of what to expect when she came across Sauti's desolate, craggy peeks.

There were only so many accounts of travel through the harsh landscape that seemed to differ from another. Most of her information checked out as the same basic facts; if you were used to luxury, Sauti wasn't for you. At the time she had assumed that meant fine silks and comfortable beds, which she'd done without before. She'd slept on the sands of Matori, after all! Mnyiri hadn't thought about a lack of abundant, pluckable, food, though, and now she found herself missing home. In Jauhar if hunger made itself known one would only have to reach up into the trees for some kind of fruit, but here? It was just...so much harder.

Not to mention the chill. Mnyiri wasn't used to that at all.

Having to bundle up and wear a cloak of all things, on top of pants!, was nothing if not strange. How could Rhonann stand to live here? Her friend had gone back to Sauti long ago and Mnyiri only hope she was still here. After all, if she wasn't, this entire trip was for nothing and besides...

...she didn't really want to think about that with all of this rain.

Being from a rainforest, Mnyiri was used to it, but evidently the persisting downpours were cause for concern. Several nomads she'd passed earlier in the day had commented on it, wondering aloud if they'd been cursed or if the Dretch were responsible. Wisely she'd kept her hood up during that; on a good day she had nothing to fear from earthlings but now....they seemed a little more...skittish than usual.

Which was why she was currently taking shelter in a cave, just on the edge of a nomadic tribe, instead of inside a warm yurt. She had a fire, which helped warm Mnyiri, but it was small, weak, and the wind that blew in on her threatened to destroy all she'd accomplished. Her radaku, Mvua, lay curled behind her with his head at her side, looking dispassionately at the downpour.  

[scarlett arbuckle]

Painted Moose

Sauti. Elsheba and Sauti did not have a good history. It felt, almost, like her stepping foot back in the rocky, empty wasteland had instigated the sudden, tumultuous rains; like the very continent were weeping at her return. She couldn't say she blamed it. She'd barely made it out of the settlement where the air ship dock was settled when the rain started, and now the skies had opened up to a veritable flood of rain that, within a number of days, had ripped many of the shrubs and tiny trees from where they'd struggled to grow in recent years.

When she walked, the dirt and mud greedily tugged at her, until her legs burned from the effort of walking, and by the time she saw a flicker of a settlement she was soaked to the bone, her dreads sopping and heavy, sticking to her face and shoulders.

Alkidike were... a mixed bag, here in Sauti. After the attack by the extremists so long ago, the region was caught between suspicion, and a hesitant gratitude. Elsheba, after all, had been one of the alkidike who marched to defend Sauti. But you could never tell, just by looking, what someone's intentions were... the villagers couldn't look at Elsheba, and tell if she was a friend or... just a one in a pack of wild Alkidike, baying for the blood of foreigners and hybrids.

She shook herself, turning away from the drowning settlement. She'd have to find somewhere else to settle - though she was shivering from the cold, with a Belrean cloak drawn around her, when she saw it. A flicker of light, high on the horizon... and, drawing closer, she saw its source was a small cave. Climbing, carefully, up to it, feet unable to find much purchase in the rocks, with how slick they were with rain, Elsheba finally found the mouth of the cave and settled her hand against the rock, stepping as close as she dared, just enough to peer inside. A woman - which she could recognize as an Alkidike mainly by size, more than anything else - sat infront of a weak, but valiantly struggling fire, huddled against the cold of the rain outside.

"Hail, sister. Room for another?" She croaked, wincing at the rasp of her voice. Then again, with all the rain and cold, it was no wonder that she was worn down, possibly getting sick, from being soaked to the bone.  

[Painted Moose]

Scarlett Arbuckle

Mnyiri felt rather than saw Mvua's body tensing around her own. He raised his massive snout, flicking his ears back against his skull until the radaku could determine what it was that saw fit to join them. Slowly he started to rise, pulling his front legs underneath him just enough to press closer to Mnyiri and snarl at the stranger.

For his breed he was a mighty beast; a true alpha in all aspects, and large enough to confidently carry an alkidike into battle. His mane may have been lined with decorative beads, courtesy of his mistress, but in the dark no one would have been able to tell. Mnyiri, however, felt the chilled beads rub against her as he shifted, and in a practiced move she raised her arm to wrap around his shoulders, holding the beast back.

Mnyiri cocked her head, furrowing her brow as she did so. A sister? That much would have been obvious simply by the woman's size, even if she hadn't greeted Mnyiri like one of the people. With a quick pat to Mvua's side, Mnyiri moved up and motioned the other on in. "Yes, of course, come in. You must be freezing."

Mvua made a grunting sort of snarl before curling back into his spot. When Mnyiri nudged him over to make room he bared his teeth, playing the role of a true brat, but she paid him little mind; instead she pressed against his side until he was forced to shuffle out of the way.

"Finding dry wood in this downpour has been a challenge, so our fire isn't grand, but you're certainly welcome to it. I have some dried fruit from home, too, and water; we've got plenty of that." Mnyiri dug around her packs for said provisions, and brought them out one by one.
 

[scarlett arbuckle]

Painted Moose

It wasn't until El had drawn close that a shape behind the Alkidike stirred - a monster of a radaku! Protective too - and considering how bone tired she was from struggling against the storm, Elsheba doubted she could fight it off, if its owner was less than friendly. As it rose to its feet, white teeth flashing into a snarl, she tensed, hand twitching as she resisted the urge to grab for her spear - it wouldn't do to threaten the creature, not when begging for a favor.

Thankfully, the woman welcomed her inside as gracefully as one could, when your abode was a small crag of a cave, and a storm was roaring around you. El couldn't resist the lopsided, relieved grin that rose onto her lips as she carefully stepped further into the shelter, waiting until the radaku had been once again bullied into submission, before slowly lowering herself, putting herself between the exit and the fire.

The cold against her back was far from pleasant, but the break in the wind gave the small flame room to breath, and it settled into a steady flame, beyond the occasional pop of the wet wood.

Slowly, Elsheba drew the soaking cloak from her shoulders, turning away from the flame so she could wring it out, then draped it next to her, shivering as cold water dripped from her dreads and clothes. This close, she could finally see the woman next to her - a true Alkidike, in clothing and style, besides the bright white of her dreads. Were they dyed? Or - was it possible that she...

Elsheba shook the thought away. "Thank you - I've got some food I can share, but your fire is what I'm happy for." She admitted with a breathless laugh, drawing her forearm over her face to wipe away the tickle of dripping water. "When I saw it - I was worried what I'd find. I never expected to find a sister here - especially on her own."  

[Painted Moose]

Scarlett Arbuckle

"There's more of us out here than you'd expect." Mnyiri quipped, reaching back to affectionately brush her fingers along Mvua's mane. "Well, there were, before the dretch anyway. Most of the traveling sisters went back to Chibale, but I have friends among the earthlings and I worry for them. Plus, it's not like I have anyone to come out here with me, besides Mvua of course." The radaku may have been a ghastly thing, one who rarely made friends and was far more likely to maim than he was to embrace but at least he was company.

She studied the other woman passively at first until a scholar's curiosity took over. In truth this woman didn't particularly look the part of a 'native' Sautian, so maybe she was just passing through, like Mnyiri? Don't ask, don't ask, don't- "So why are you here? Like you said, it's not really common to see anyone like us this far away from Aisha. Well, unless you're an extremist-" Mnyiri waved her hand, "-but they should in Yael by now and this is the opposite direction so...."

It was a bit of a toss up really; she could be straggler, but Mnyiri didn't think she was. After all, wouldn't she have....skewered her or something by now? Traditionalists didn't generally take too well to her hair, regardless of whether they knew it was white by birth or a stylistic choice.  

[scarlett arbuckle]

Painted Moose

...Ah. The dretch. Every sister had grown up with stories of them; warnings, fables, whispers in the night and bedtime stories with a moral. But the recent emergence of them was... alarming... and Elsheba had done what she could to brush the thoughts of them aside, as at the time she'd thought she and Nim were comfortably living in Belrea. ... When he disappeared... reality caught up with her.

Still, hearing that her people had turned their backs on their allies, after all the had happened, and especially after the 'civil war' of sorts... it was a shocking return to their roots. Elsheba didn't know whether to be relieved for her people's self preservation, or furious because it meant Nimueh was out there, no doubt vulnerable - more so than normal all because of her.

The troubling thoughts marred her expression, turning it stormy and worried, but one could wave this off as general unease at the mention of the dretch. She nodded, murmuring her sympathies to the younger girl, then fell into a somewhat tense silence, during which she could feel the questions on the girl's tongue.

When she murmured that dreaded word... extremist, Elsheba snapped her head back up, fixing the younger woman with a look before she could contain herself. It took quite a bit of effort to relax her features, her hands resting tensely against her thighs. "I recently returned from Belrea - I'm looking for my..." She closed her eyes, thinking over the last conversation she and Nimueh had had.

The words clung to her, muddying her mind and making it hard to exist in an oblivious bubble, even when discussing it with a stranger who had no idea of her background. "A friend." She winced, falling quiet once more, unwilling to elaborate for the moment.

"It's noble to try and protect your earthling friends, just... be careful. Even with such a fearsome familiar, the dretch are said to be ruthless. Will you meet up with someone, soon, to travel together? How close are you to your goal?"  

[Painted Moose]

Scarlett Arbuckle

What was that about? That look had been such a sudden shift that Mnyiri couldn't help taking notice. It was gone as soon as it came, but seeds of curiosity were already planted in Mnyiri's brain. If she had been younger she would have called the other female out on it right then and then, but now...now she had to be careful.

"Belrea?!" That, however, could not be contained. Her voice was so loud that it reverberated against the stone that surrounded them, bringing Mvua back into consciousness with an irritated snarl. Mnyiri leaned closer to the other alkiidike, as close as she could with the fire anyway, "Did you really go? What was it like? What kind of currency do they use? Is their language the same or did you have a translator? How was the ship? What are their views on outside visitors? What was their food like? NO, NO WAIT, hang on, don't say a thing- I have to....where is it?!"

Mnyiri turned around fast enough that the bells in her dreads barely had time to make a sound. She dug through her multitude of scrolls, books and loose sheets of papyrus to drag out a rough sketchbook. The scholar quickly worked up a pen, some ink and scooted as close as she dared to the other, which was pretty damn close.

pleaaaassseee share with me?" She waved to the outside downpour, "It's not like you can get out of here, anyway, and if you're that worried about me being by myself then why not travel with me? Two's better than one, right?"  

[scarlett arbuckle]

Painted Moose

Huh? Elsheba jumped at the sudden shout, leaning back slightly away from the suddenly eager young Alkidike. She opened her mouth to hush the young one, only for her to dive into her bags, fishing around for a ... book, of sorts. "... That's... true." She answered, laughing softly and shaking her head in bemusement. "Perhaps. You're really this curious about other lands?"

That was... surprising. Her people had, for the longest time, been isolationist - but with how friendly the Alkidike elders had been in the last few decades with outsiders, it really shouldn't have been strange that the younger ones were more open minded. But an Alkidike scholar...? That was...

Usually something left for the mystics and elders, not young book worms. Elsheba felt her mothers would have hated it, which honestly made her want to cheer the girl on with her curiosity.

Languidly, the older Alkidike stretched out her leg as best she could, scooting back from the fire, now that she'd had the chance to bake her old, cold bones a bit - enough, at least, to recover from the cold of the storm. "Uh - you may need to remind me of your questions, one at a time. But yes - I was living there." She paused for a moment, thinking - most of the questions she hadn't really considered. "I suppose they don't mind outsiders - they were curious. Not unlike you." She added with a smirk and a ticked up eyebrow.

"I don't know - they already speak our language, but it sounds... different? I can understand them, but it's a different dialect, and some of their words are different."  

[Painted Moose]

Scarlett Arbuckle

[5/7]

"Well, yeah, aren't you?" Mnyiri was fully aware that her ideology didn't coincide with that of the alkidike, but then again, she'd been born the odd one out, so why not play the role? She had worked her way into a state of 'tolerance' among the elders, though few seemed to actually 'like' acknowledging her on any given day. Most simply chose to ignore Mnyiri in favor of the pure bloods, and she'd grown to be okay with that. She only needed a couple to look over her notes from time to time, and those that actually cared enough to discuss theorems with her were all the more precious. "I've been on the road since I was ten and five, so you could say I'm sort of an expert in being curious." Mnyiri grinned from ear to ear, scrunching her markings around the corners of her eyes as she did so. "I've been to Oba, Matori; ooooohhhhh, it was my favorite. Does Belrea have any beaches? I bet they do, at least a few, but, anyway, Tale was alright and Sauti wouldn't be too bad if it would just stop raining."

Mnyiri dipped her quill into the little ink pot at her side, tapped it twice on the curled top to dispel any extra droplets, and raised the quill to write. Her notes were sloppy at best; detailed, as much as they could be, at least, but hurried, much like her mind. There was so much she wanted to know, but Mnyiri had learned over the years that it was best not to overwhelm others. More so when they seemed road weary, and solitary.

"What was the airship like? Do you know if they can stay aloft in rough weather, or do you think they're docked right now?" Honestly, Mnyiri hoped for the latter. She knew that if she were ever to make the journey to Belrea it would have to be on a sunny day, lest she find herself too panic stricken to truly enjoy it.