+- Hydaelyn Role-Players (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18)
+-- Forum: Role-Play (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=27)
+--- Forum: Town Square (IC) (https://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/mybb18/forumdisplay.php?fid=21)
+--- Thread: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] (/showthread.php?tid=4122)
The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Kailia - 08-29-2013
K'ailia had arrived back at the tribe camp with her mother about a half hour ago. After setting their things out, K'ailia decided it was time to check in with the elders, or rather, the elder who sent her to Gridania to begin with.
Thus she walked through camp, and noticed a few tribe members looking at her as if she was a completely different person. She didn't really feel all that different. Was it her clothes? Did she have something on her face? She didn't really pay it much thought as she saw ahead, the tent of K'deiki, the tribe elder who sent her to become a Conjurer.
She stepped up to the tent flap and took a deep breath before saying, "Elder... are you there? I have returned from Gridania."
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Naunet - 08-29-2013
The air inside the tent was heavy with the warm, earthy scent of dust and the faint tang of burning herbs. With the tent shut against the bright sun outside, everything was cast in long, harsh shadows from the few candles scattered in the small area. Well-trodden skins lay across the sand and muffled the shifting sounds of a body shuffling about to the back of the tent, distorting the shadows into odd shapes across the tent walls.
Green eyes, their color faded with age, turned towards the entry and crinkled in thought, the dim light in the tent emphasizing the spidery lines around them and dragging on the flesh of cheekbones and a jawline that, in the confidence of youth, would have sat high and firm. They still held a memory of this attitude as the individual in the tent stepped away from a small, square skin, upon which metal glinted dully.
"I know that voice," the figure spoke in a warm tone, low and smooth, and white light cut a sharp triangle into the dimness of the tent as an aged hand pulled back the tent's door flap.
K'deiki stood in the entryway, squinting briefly into the sun, and then smiled from under a heavy mane of grey hair that had once, in its prime, shone a sandy blonde. "That is the voice of victory."
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Kailia - 08-29-2013
K'ailia nodded, "Yes. My training is complete. I am prepared now for proving myself however you see fit."
She bowed her head in honor of the elder before her, and indeed she spoke true. She had learned the three elements that were a conjurer's ally. She was confident she would pass whatever trial the elder would give her now.
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Naunet - 09-07-2013
K'deiki extended one hand toward the younger miqo'te, withered fingers curling in a beckoning gesture. "Come closer and let me see you, child," her voice was soft but not weakened by her age and carried a hint of the power she'd once wielded in its commanding tone. "K'ailia, wasn't it? Such a fine shot you were in the sands." The woman chuckled, and the way her shoulders shook made it look as though her bones would rattle right off her fragile frame.
She took a step backwards, into the shadowed tent, and gestured for K'ailia to follow. "We've all placed hopes in you, dear," she spoke as she moved, and the authority in her voice waned under the pull of an old grief. "Tell me, what did you learn amongst the trees?"
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Kailia - 09-07-2013
K'ailia smiled as she entered the tent.
"Actually I didn't hit the sand... I had hit a huntress in the fanny", she said as she looked about.
Upon hearing the request to tell what she had learned, K'ailia took a seat in the elder's sitting area and began her reciting of what she had learned.
"The first lesson I learned was of talking to the elements and the elementals. The first element I was introduced to was that of the earth. For it is the earth that nurtures life as it grows. Without it, plants would have nowhere to grow. But it is also unmoving and solid. It is also patient."
K'ailia picked up some of the sand from the ground and it began turning into a solid mass, a rock of sand, "It also is effective as a weapon." And like that, the rock returned to sand back to the ground.
"The next lesson I learned was of wind. It is the air we breath. It also works over time as a weapon, creating small cuts as it moves. It is how erosion happens. Wind can be a weapon too, but it is a weapon that works over time causing multiple smaller wounds."
And around K'ailia, a breeze of wind bows along the ground shifting the sand around her slightly. Finally she looked to the elder.
"And the last lesson I learned was of water. It is ever moving. It is what makes life possible. It nurtures and heals. But a lot of water can be destructive in its own ways. It can play a role in erosion too."
K'ailia smiled and awaited the elder's next words.
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Naunet - 09-07-2013
"Earth, wind, and water," K'deiki echoed and moved to stand in front of K'ailia, taking hold of a wooden stick and leaning her aged weight on it. She let silence settle over the tent for several seconds, her own thoughts flickering to old memories of a relentless sun, the grit and sting of sand whipped up into a frenzy by wind and rubbing her skin red. She recalled the weight of a spear in her hand, so very different from the feel of the walking stick she now relied on. Her lips curled up into a sad smile.
"We've struggled since Dalamud's fall - you know that well, I'm sure. Not just from the weight of those we lost, but from the absence of those who left us." Her fingers curled around the top of the staff, and she resisted the urge to let out a sigh. It wouldn't suit the image she was presenting to the young miqo'te before her now. They all must be strong.
"You trained under my daughter, and we'd have you serve this tribe as she once did," the words stung to speak so plainly, but not with grief. There was resentment in her heart. Betrayal. "But first, I must see that you've brought back to us something of true use."
Straightening, K'deiki gestured with the staff towards the door flap and began to move towards it. "Come. The huntresses have likely returned by now, and there is always one who needs tending to these days."
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Kailia - 09-07-2013
K'ailia nodded and got up from where she sat. She followed the elder as they made their way through camp to where the huntresses all gathered. The camp seemed abuzz at seeing K'ailia returned, and she seemed to walk with more confidence than she ever had.
As they neared the huntresses area, it was clear the hunt had gone bad. Several huntresses were laying on the ground with deep wounds. K'ailia quickly rushed past the elder to the first huntress and looked the wounds over then placing her hands upon her own chest, a brilliant watery light formed around her hands as the cure magic formed and she pressed it into the huntress who's wounds instantly started closing on their own.
But K'ailia was not finished. She quickly rushed to the next huntress, repeating the process. It looked like some wild predatory beast had attacked them.
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Naunet - 09-07-2013
K'deiki followed at a significantly slower, though no less urgent, pace, coming to a stop several steps away from where K'ailia worked intently. As the elder leaned on her staff, the air near them seemed to come to life, rippling around K'ailia in fervent blues and greens, rushing down her hands and nourishing the wounds of the one she tended to. K'deiki recognized the woman - more a girl - under K'ailia's hands as a great grand-niece, one of the youngest of those sent out to hunt, and her heart ached.
Only five years ago, they would have had the numbers to protect the young that traveled with the huntresses, but now, more often they were forced into combat before they were ready, through accident or dire need. The consequences were often horrific, but it was either this or see the whole tribe starve.
The light of K'ailia's magic flickered and sent shadows dancing across K'deiki's face, and the faces of those weary warriors around them. She turned to the first woman K'ailia had seen to, noted the way her movements were not nearly as pained as one would expect for the wounds she had just recently suffered, noted the girl's tanned face staring with grateful appreciation at K'ailia's back.
These things she noted as all around them those uninjured began to shift gears, drifting away from the tense desperation they had entered the camp with and moving on to other tasks - speaking to those frightened youths who had gone unscathed, laying out the quartered carcass of a massive worm to begin preparations for its preservation and use. The tribe bustled mightily around them while K'deiki stood, straight and tall despite her age, and observed K'ailia as she continued her work.
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Kailia - 09-07-2013
K'ailia finished healing the last huntress and wiped sweat from her brow as she stood before helping the huntress to her feet. Then it dawned on her. She had completely forgotten about the elder and quickly rushed back to K'deiki.
"Sorry I ran ahead like that elder. I just... well I felt I had to move quickly." she said hurridly, before kneeling down preparing for whatever berating was coming.
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Naunet - 09-07-2013
Green eyes dropped to the younger woman, and she kept a stern countenance for several seconds until, in the midst of the noise and clamor of the hunters and children, she tossed her head back, face to the sky, and let out a guffaw that shook her whole, aged body.
The laughter lasted for a good while before subsiding, and she turned her gaze, features crinkled deep with a smile, first to those around them - she could see one of the tias who had taken to alchemy since the Calamity tending to one of the less grievously wounded - and then to K'ailia.
"There's nothing to worry about, dear," K'deiki said at last, nodding to herself to emphasize her words. "Such focus is exactly what our family needs in these moments. When your brothers and sisters are in danger, there's no time for niceties." She dug the end of her staff into the sand, twisting it in her hands.
"It's clear you've learned much in the forest, and not just your magic. But you should know that these desperate times mean we all stretch ourselves well beyond our limits." Her smile evened out, though her eyes remained warm. "Healing your family won't be enough, not when each of us must carry the weight of two, or three, or more of our lost brothers and sisters. Were these better times, I wouldn't ask this of you, but..."
She shifted her weight and began to cross the sand, towards where a number of men and women had laid out a giant sandworm's carcass and had begun to systematically dismantle it, stripping flesh and organs, carving out the bony plates of its armor and the vicious spines around its head. "We must know you can nourish us, as well." A pause. "In a few hours, some will be rested. They'll go with you then, and we'll see just how well you can fight like a sandstorm."
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Kailia - 09-07-2013
K'ailia nodded and stood. She took it to mean she had some free time till then.
"Understood elder. I promise to do my best." she said before giving a bow and heading off to the side of camp she most enjoyed before she left.
She went to her favorite rock formation and climbed up onto them. It had been some time since she climbed. Even she realized something was different. For now, she sat upon the rocks and looked out at the desert. Something was still bothering her. And she had a bit before she had to go out on a new hunt. She closed her eyes and focused her mind, trying to reach out to whatever it was that bothered her. She listened to the elements. Earth, air, and even the faintest of water.
Something was not right within the desert. What, she could not tell yet.
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Atem - 09-08-2013
The earth could be felt moving close by. Something else was climbing up the rocks slow and quietly.
Was it a member of the Tribe? Or had a wild beast picked up her scent?
One of the huntresses had approached from behind and against the desert wind. Her sundarkend head peeks into sight no more then nessesary. The dark red hair looks dirty an unkempted. Her eyes as uneven as suspicion and curiousity.
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Kailia - 09-08-2013
K'ailia bolted to her feet and focused now on wend, trying to catch the scent of what was moving up the rock.
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Atem - 09-08-2013
The huntress brows furrows her brows, a little dissapointed to be noticed.
She pulls herself up the last bit, remains of old pain are all over her skin, probably from when the hunt started.
"Good you can still recognise a threat. You will need that."
She moves next to K'ailia.
"It´s K'gori remember? You have been away so many full moons, did you find where Azeyma goes to sleep?" K'gori points at the sun.
RE: The return to the Tribe [Hipparion Tribe RP] - Kailia - 09-08-2013
K'ailia relaxed upon seeing the hunter. She turned then back towards the sun, "Azeyma never sleeps. She merely goes to shine elsewhere till she finds her way back here."
She then turned to the hunter, "I take it the time for the hunt is at hand? What is it we shall be hunting this day?"