Hydaelyn Role-Players

The tension encapsulating the cord softened. The Miqo'te's palm relaxed as it guided the trio back into their respective holster. Allowing his other hand to droop down limply, still clinging loosely to the frame of the bow, tugging it against his thigh before gently tilting his skull backwards. Just enough for a single Sapphire eye to weave it's view through the crevice of his chocolate crested locks. Blinking slightly at being addressed, cocking a golden brow skywards at the approaching female. 

It was renown that he wasn't much of a talker, that much was apparent with the crystal silence that was only shattered by the occasional wild life chirping in the background, yet Kiht simply stood, wondering what she could want from him. Waiting for her to take the hesitant step forwards into conversation, aimlessly blinking at her with the raised brow over the ocean of blue, contrasted by the paper thin slit of an excuse for a pupil.

Luckily for them, K'mih had always been a social being who barely feared anyone. Approaching him until she was at a safe distance took no effort, and neither did she feel bothered by his silence, awkward as it was. She had his attention, that was enough for now.
 
"I have a request..." she dared to say, concern all over her voice and eyes, which were glued to the Tia's figure; open, honest. And it was really odd that someone like her would tell such a thing to someone like him, for they'd barely shared more than a few mundane words in the past.
 
It didn't matter to the young girl. He was still a part of her Tribe-- a part of her family. She knew his name.

An agonizingly slow pivot from his front facing position, he eventually faced the conversation partner. A golden brow still locked in an arched position of wordless questioning before finally softening back down to it's casual resting place.

His right hand advanced skywards and lightly clasped around the joint of his elbow. Awkwardly rubbing the arm still clutching the throat of the bow, resting against his leg. Ever so slightly angling his skull to the left as if to pose the wordless question for her to continue. The adam's apple dwelling within his underused vocal chords shifted slightly as he soundlessly cleared his throat.

"...Oh?"

"It's about my sister K'nahli... you know her, don't you?" She kept looking at him, kept talking in his silence, unafraid, yet distressed over something. He knew her sister's name, she was certain he should know it. He should know her face.
 
"She's very good with the bow... just like you are!" K'mih lowered her head slightly. She looked slightly nervous, albeit it wasn't due to Kiht's difficult nature. "I'm not sure yet, but there's a chance I'll have to leave the Tribe soon..."
 
Crystalline, sincere eyes rose once more, as did her voice when her very difficult request could be heard.
 
"Please! Could you train with her from now on? I don't want her to be alone!"

Instinctively stepping backwards, nearly losing balance at the sudden burst of a request at the end. As if everything was calm before this female exploded with emotion in his face. Gathering himself up for a moment before blinking in slight dumbfounded awe. Pursing his lips to choose the next words carefully, taking his sweet time in the process. A good handful of seconds had past before he finally responded.

"... If you focus on the task, you won't have to worry."

A pair of slender digits rose to the plumes that were sticking out from the quiver adorned to his spine. Gripping a single haft and extending it towards her, the feathered end first. Clasping the arrowhead between his fingers expertly.

"Here... It's better than the average ones they'll give you."

"K'AILIA YOHKO!" 

The somehow familiar sound of a  particular gold-haired mother screaming for her child was not unusual to the tribe. Especially not when it came to K'luha and her daughter K'ailia. K'ailia was always running off after all, and K'luha was always running after her. Still, the lithe framed woman of her later thirties came dashing through the Sagoli desert's sands in a fury. Her usually tidy hair was a messy mop of sand and dust on her head and the usual tan color of her skin seemed to have faded to a pale sickly color. 

"K'ailia Yohko this is NOT funny! Where ARE you!?" she screeched again, her odd green and yellow eyes almost starting to blur with tears, or maybe it was unadulterated rage. 

Somehow through her terror and anger, the mother noticed her brother and a younger one of the tribe off in the distance. She sprinted to them as fast as her well-built legs could carry her and nearly tackled her brother to the ground, or rather she would have if she didn't skid to a halt in front of him and grasp for his shirt.

"Have you seen K'ailia brother!? She went missing again! If she's surrounded by wolves or worse another cactus patch..."

('... If you focus on the task, you won't have to worry.')
 
K'mih's tail lowered completely at Kiht's initial reply, words that sounded like a rejection. She still wanted to keep the tiny hope that perhaps he'd finally fulfil her request, for he hadn't blatantly denied his will to help K'nahli's cause.
 
"...?"
 
Ears perked with curiosity when the boy offered one of his arrows, the ones he'd been dangerously playing with a moment ago. Albeit her own worries prevented her from smiling when she took the pointy tool, her head lowered in a thankful nod. She held the arrow with both hands and stared at it for a moment, head still down.
 
"......Why do you like silence so much?"

Her young voice was barely heard after a few seconds, sad eyes glued to the arrow she was holding. The question was genuine and sincere; she wasn't judging him, she wasn't mad. It was simply something she wanted to understand.
 
It was then that a powerful voice startled her, interrupting any chance to obtain an answer. K'ailia's mother ran to them like a furious chocobo in an stampede, and a wide-eyed K'mih couldn't but instinctively take a step back.
 
(K'ailia...?)
 
"Ah..." Possessing some information about the matter, she tried to speak while the woman grabbed the poor Tia's shirt. "I was with her a moment ago..."

A few minutes earlier....

K'ailia is walking towards her mother's tent, when a desert moth catches her eyes. Fascinated, she began following it trying to catch the moth. Before she knew it though she was on the edge of camp, but still focused on her quarry...

Pressing his lips in a firm lock as he mulled over the thought. Finally separating them to allow the intrusion of the dusty, dry air as his response was about to headway. Until he was brutally interrupted in his own thought process from the voice that shook mountains and rattled dunes. Instantly flinching and ducking down, as if a projectile was about to connect with the broadside of his skull. Cracking one eyelid open to witness the stomping female rushing towards him. 

Standing stiff like a board, inhaling sharply as his eyes widened, mouth hanging agape slightly as he instinctively took a small hesitant step backwards before being lurched forwards with the grip of his elder sibling. Wiggling around in the grip, trying to pry himself from her titan clutch, to no avail mind you.

"I... D-don't know! S-she's your kid not mine!"

Hell hath no fury like K'luha whenever K'ailia had gotten distracted and run off again. Certainly the tribe would be used to the small but busty mother running to and fro, screaming and becoming hysterical that she had lost her child. But it could hardly be considered her fault. For keeping the child alive to her sixteenth, K'luha had done good job. 

Still, with blinding fury and concern K'luha had zero'd in on her brother and almost missed K'mih's comment about having seen K'ailia a moment ago. Of course, with K'ailia, a moment ago was like a year ago. It did almost no good at all. At least, that had been K'luha's experience with the child. She was about to thank K'mih anyway before Khit had to open his big fat pompous mouth. 

K'luha snarled at him and bared her fangs, pushing all her surprising amount of weight forward onto her brother and knocking him onto the ground before sitting atop of him. 

"My child! Your Niece! She. Is. Important! Khit! Just because you're a Tia, free of the pains of child bearing, doesn't mean you don't have to help me find mine!" K'luha hissed punching at his chest half-halfheartedly before bringing her hands to her face and letting out a soft choke of a cry. "What would I do if I lost K'ailia? If I lost her Khit," K'luha's sorrowed changed to fury again as she glowered down at her brother. "I would kill you for what you just said. Now help me find her." she snapped before hopping off him like she hadn't just threatened to murder her own kin. 

The mother glanced back to K'mih and raised a brow. "You said you saw her? I doubt she's still there but maybe I can find tracks or something. Where?"

Pushing his eyelids to their limit with how wide his gaze became as he was brutishly tossed to the arid desert landscape beneath them. A thud that radiated through out the outskirts of the camp. Instantly closing his eyes and laying flat against the heated ground. Inhaling sharply before spitting out a gust of stored air as his sister took perch upon his stomach. Wiggling in utter defiance of this situation, Kiht finally gave up and limply plopped in defeat.

Exerting a heavy sigh before pivoting his skull towards K'mih, sticking out his lower lip before exerting a puff of air skywards, blowing a displaced strand of golden hair from his gaze. Finally, he gathered a bit of strength and propped himself up on both elbows. Cradling his skull in the palm of one hand. Quietly murmuring beneath his breath, more to himself than anyone.

"...Sitting on me isn't going to find her."

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The call of an enraged or terrified mother travels far and one of the huntresses who had only just left the camp turned right around to see what the commotion was this time. K'latolo made no effort to stay hidden as she searched for the group with one of the few lances she'd taken along acting as a walking stick. The soft taps and scrapes were music to her ears and a clear warning to any stinging creatures that may be hiding in little holes.

"What happened this time? Another game? Something broken?" She sighs and shakes her head, remembering her own daughter and the stress of trying to keep her from getting hurt or killed. "Children... It's a wonder any of us make it to adulthood..."

She spots the group at last and picks up the pace to save the poor Tia, unless he was somehow responsible for upsetting the mother. Her long, springy legs get her there without breaking a sweat and she slams the butt of the spear against the ground, putting on a mask of as much authority as she can muster. She was by no means an elder of the tribe, but the look alone could snap everybody out of a bad mood if they weren't expecting it.

"What's going on here. Why the shouting?"

When the hysterical mother looked back at K'mih, she was met with a horrified expression in the girl's face. The tanned Miqo'te closed her mouth quickly and stood firm, more out of fear than out of respect, albeit the latter was always present when she talked to her elders.
 
"The last time I saw her, she was heading to her tent!" She informed the best she could. It was only after she pronounced those words that she realized how useless that information would actually be.
 
Had K'ailia returned to her tent, her mother wouldn't have been driven to this state.
 
".............."
 
An awkward silence reigned in the girl's throat right after. Luckily, another Miqo'te that approached them diverted the attention towards herself.

K'luha's eye twitched in extreme irritability at her brother's lack of concern. As she promptly got up full and dusted herself off, she sent a swift kick backwards towards Khit's groin. Just for good measure. 

Finally she glanced to K'mih, her eyes dropping to an annoyed half-lidded appearance at the small girl's pearls of wisdom. She could have slapped herself, but the call of a new voice caught her attention first. K'luha glanced over as K'latolo joined the small collection of tribe members now. 

The mother shook her head, too irritable to deal with another woman trying to assert herself. One would think everyone would be used to K'luha's yelling by now. 

"K'ailia's missing. Again." she frowned, crossing her arms beneath her bust and shot a dirty glare back to Khit. She shook it off before looking back to K'latolo. "Apparently she was headed back to my tent, but something had distracted her. Or injured her in the meantime."

Swiveling his skull to glance towards the newest voices before his eyes nearly bulged forth from the depths of his skull. The connection of foot to a rather sensitive area caused him to instantly curl as his sibling removed herself from his chest. Assuming a fetal position, coughing absently into the dust coated ground. Taking his sweet time in recovering... Perhaps if he milked this injury for long enough they'd all just forget he was there. 

Deciding to elevate a palm to fish-hook out a pocket knife with a curled digit. Before digging back into the same pocket and tugging out a small triangle of wood. He proceeded to sharpen it's edges. Still in a curled defensive position, absent mindedly tending to his own works in creating another arrow-head.