K'piru had eventually exhausted the western perimeter of the tribe's camp, and each passing moment of no K'aijeen wound her up inside like a spring. When her daughter was nowhere to be found near the camp, she even risked venturing a little ways out, but the western edge was surrounded by deep dunes, which were prime habitat for sandworms and K'piru could not go far without risking stirring up one of those deadly beasts. Worried half-to-death that K'aijeen had somehow gotten herself eaten, she hastened back through the camp, ignoring the occasional calls from tribe members about her preparations for the festival, in hopes that K'ile or K'airos had managed to find her wayward daughter. Preferably in one piece. No one was at her tent when she arrived back and so she paced anxiously outside of it, waiting.
K'airos had taken point and was some distance away from her father and sister. She stopped pouting continuously when they were about halfway back to the tribal camp, possibly out of her cheeks and lips getting tired of it. She arrived first at the camp, and was the first sight her mother would see emerging from between the other tents. When K'airos noticed her mother lingering outside of the tent, she raised her spear and waved it. "We found Aijeen! She's alright!" she exclaimed.
Refusing to take a single step of her own free will, K'aijeen required that her father push her all the war home. She did explain to K'thalen as she went, "I can't make the traps again. I used bomb fingers and some powders I took from mom. Gone now!"
K'thalen kept his daughter moving resolutely, without losing the pleasant smile, though there was some measure of seriousness in the doggedly forward stare of his eyes. "Let's not worry about making the traps just yet, mkay? First things first! You do owe some people an apology, after all."
K'piru spun in the sand, sending up a small dust cloud in her sudden flurry of activity at K'airos's voice. Her ears swooped back and then perked almost straight up as she exclaimed, "Aijeen?!" and rushed forward, passing K'airos up and all but barreling into her daughter.
Throwing her hands up in the air and almost whacking K'thalen in the face, K'aijeen bellowed, "Apologies? Apologies! I don't owe anyone any apologies! That's crazy!" And, when she saw K'piru, her ears pinned against her scalp and her tail stuck straight out, "Ah, no lecturing! I didn't do anything!"
K'piru ignored her daughter’s protests for the moment, instead going to wrap her up in an almost smothering embrace. "Aijeen! I thought for sure you'd gotten yourself eaten by a sandworm!"
K'aijeen of course writhed as though her mother were a sandworm, "MOM STAHP!"
K'thalen leaned away from the mother and daughter, weaving his fingers together and locking his hands behind his head in a relaxed, waiting pose. Still with that crooked smile. "Not too far off," he chuckled a bit somberly. K'airos lowered her spear, holding it horizontally with both hands. The scene made her chuckle softly, her tail and ears raising somewhat.
K'piru shook her head, tail whipping behind her rapidly, and began what could only be described as a near full-body inspection of her daughter's well-being. "I had no idea what'd become of you! You worried me so much, when K'ile came by and I realized you were missing and I couldn't find you anywhere near camp...! Are you alright? Do you hurt anywhere? Tell me where it hurts."
"I said stop," K'aijeen tried to smack her mother's hands away, "I didn't do anything and nothing happened. Dad poked my trap and almost died. Fuss over him!"
At K'piru's wide-eyed look in his direction, K'thalen moved his hands from behind his head to spread them out to either side. "All limbs accounted for. Nothing to worry about!" She didn't look convinced and then frowned back at K'aijeen, still trying to keep ahold of her daughter despite the struggling.
"Your trap?" She questioned, lips pursing.
"It was an impressive trap!" K'airos interjected, probably doing nothing to help Aijeen on her current struggle.
Probably not, no, but K'aijeen did accept the praise. "It was a good trap! I needed a Sand Drake spine and other stuff so I set a trap with fresh Vulture meat and blood and rigged it to explode with some of the powder I learned about for shamaning!"
"The dad ruined it." She gave her father an accusatory glare.
K'thalen shrugged at that, but K'piru's eyes narrowed with the look of a hawk homing in on its prey. "Who taught you that?" A pause, "No, it doesn't matter. What possessed you to do such a thing?"
Perceiving the question as obviously ludicrous, K'aijeen answered, "Cause I needed a Sand Drake spine. And stuff. Like I said? I didn't do anything wrong!"
K'airos sighed at the thought of what would be the inevitable conclusion of this exchange.
His lips in a straight line and his eyes mostly concealed by his hair, K'ile Tia strode calmly and slowly back into the camp, spear held to his back by a leather tie that ran over his otherwise bare shoulders. He paused when he saw the gathering of Thalen's clan, and his expression darkened, and he strode on towards them.
"You could've gotten yourself killed!" K'piru exclaimed. "And you took reagents from my stores! And who knows what else..."
K'aijeen's reply was indignant, "I was gonna put 'em back! Dad ruined my trap so he owes you for the wasted stuff!"
K'thalen caught sight of his brother fairly quickly and waved casually at him in silence, flashing a grin.
K'ile did not return his brother's wave or grin. Instead, he approached K'airos directly. Walking up to the woman and crossing his arms, he stated, "You've helped Aijeen with stuff like this before. Did you know anything about this?"
"You can't just take things without asking and excuse it by saying you were going to put them back! You can't just "put back" reagents - if you use them, they're gone!" K'piru gave her daughter a half-exasperated, half-worried look. "You put yourself and others - your own father! - in danger, Aijeen. Why??"
K'airos looked at K'ile to the eyes, for just a moment. The briefest and most shameful of moments. She quickly turned away and shaked her head. "She did not tell me about this."
K'aijeen threw her head back and sighed in great exasperation, saying slowly, "I needed a Sand. Drake. Spine! I've said that fifty times!"
Closing her eyes to try and calm herself, K'piru asked stiffly, "What do you need a sand drake spine for?"
K'ile replied to K'airos, "Inform the elders of that if they ask, then," and then turned to walk over to the others.
Smiling at her mother's question, K'aijeen replied, "My education. And eyes and a heart. Also brain goo if there was any left." She laid her hand on the satchel that hung at her hip, "I got plenty of goo from the vultures so wasn't worried about it."
"What?" K'piru leaned back slightly to stare at her daughter fully. "Your education doesn't involve... sand drake... eyes! Or hearts. Or getting yourself killed! Or--or stealing!"
K'aijeen scoffed, "Not if you had anything to say about it. I'm educating myself. I'm gonna be the best shaman this tribe's ever had!"
Meanwhile, K'ile took up a stance next to K'piru, his arms crossed over his chest and his expression very serious. K'airos tried to say something, but couldn't find any defense for her sister. She chose to keep quiet for the moment.
K'thalen reached out then to lightly touch K'piru's arm. "No sense getting worked up over it, though. What happened, happened, and we're all okay, yeah?" He gave her a disarming grin, which she didn't return in any form. "From what I can tell, there's just one thing we gotta handle right away."
Her ears pressing back into her hair, K'piru gave her daughter a pained look.
K'aijeen frowned at each of her parents in turn, and then looked at her uncle, "What do you want?"
K'ile's reply was simple and sharp, "You're in trouble. You need to explain yourself to the elders this time."
Taking a moment to regain her composure, K'piru nodded at K'ile's words. "I've told you many times, Aijeen... You cannot just take things without asking."
Thinking for a moment, K'aijeen renewed her indignant air and looked proud, "I was contributing to the tribe. Learning more about shamanism makes our shamans better! I was making the tribe better! The elders will understand that better than you, mom!"
K'airos approached, somewhat shyly, dragging her spear as if it was the first time she was handed one. "How much meat did you steal, anyway?"
Answering on K'aijeen's behalf, K'ile said, "Enough to feed a family for a few days. It will be impossible to make up the deficit before it's time for the feast."
K'ile gave K'aijeen a hard look and pointed in the general direction of the elder's tent, "Now. Walk or I'll carry you by your ears."
K'piru finally let her hands fall away from her daughter, pulling her arms to herself and clasping her hands to her chest. K'thalen reached out to give his daughter a conciliatory pat on the back. "The best thing to do is to own up to mistakes and work to remedy them. So, we gonna take a walk?"
"Remember to mention how you had the tribe's interests in mind!" K'airos offered uselessly.
K'aijeen proclaimed proudly, "If the elders are wise they'll know I was right and give me what I need to try again!" She started off towards the elder's tent.
K'ile turned to K'airos, "You, too. You encourage her. The elders might have something to say to you about that."
Her tail lowered greatly and curved between her knees. The ears would have done the same if they could fall so much. "Al-alright." she nodded.
K'piru turned to start to follow her daughter. K'thalen just stood with his ears cocked, looking conflicted for the first time.
Before moving off with the others, K'ile smacked K'thalen's shoulder, "Don't worry. S'just girl talk. They'll work it out. Don't you have some huntress rolling out her good blankets for you or something?"
K'thalen snorted. "What, this time of year?" He cast a frown at K'piru's back, hurrying after the smaller form of her daughter, and then leveled a suddenly broad grin at his brother. "Don't you have a sun to take care of?" And turned on one heel in the sand, flinging his arms out dramatically.
Frowning at his brother's joke, he said, "A Tia needs hobbies."
"So does a nunh," the nunh chuckled and scratched the back of his head, just below one ear, which twitched in response. "Eh, think there are some kiddos who might not be causing as much trouble as they should without me around."
"You working on raising more kids like Aijeen?" K'ile delivered deadpan, "Azeyma help us all. Last thing we need is a swarm of kids after our brains."
He tossed back his head and his shoulders shook in soundless laughter. "Azeyma's helping them alright, if you can trust their mighty battle cries." On his last words, he brought both hands with fingers curled forward and made a clawing gesture at K'ile.
"We are not drake-brained." said K'airos over her shoulder, walking towards the elders' tent.
Ignoring K'thalen's growls, K'ile said to K'airos, "I know of one drake-brained fool in the tribe," and nodded to his brother. He was heading off towards the elders' tent at a full walk now.
K'airos had taken point and was some distance away from her father and sister. She stopped pouting continuously when they were about halfway back to the tribal camp, possibly out of her cheeks and lips getting tired of it. She arrived first at the camp, and was the first sight her mother would see emerging from between the other tents. When K'airos noticed her mother lingering outside of the tent, she raised her spear and waved it. "We found Aijeen! She's alright!" she exclaimed.
Refusing to take a single step of her own free will, K'aijeen required that her father push her all the war home. She did explain to K'thalen as she went, "I can't make the traps again. I used bomb fingers and some powders I took from mom. Gone now!"
K'thalen kept his daughter moving resolutely, without losing the pleasant smile, though there was some measure of seriousness in the doggedly forward stare of his eyes. "Let's not worry about making the traps just yet, mkay? First things first! You do owe some people an apology, after all."
K'piru spun in the sand, sending up a small dust cloud in her sudden flurry of activity at K'airos's voice. Her ears swooped back and then perked almost straight up as she exclaimed, "Aijeen?!" and rushed forward, passing K'airos up and all but barreling into her daughter.
Throwing her hands up in the air and almost whacking K'thalen in the face, K'aijeen bellowed, "Apologies? Apologies! I don't owe anyone any apologies! That's crazy!" And, when she saw K'piru, her ears pinned against her scalp and her tail stuck straight out, "Ah, no lecturing! I didn't do anything!"
K'piru ignored her daughter’s protests for the moment, instead going to wrap her up in an almost smothering embrace. "Aijeen! I thought for sure you'd gotten yourself eaten by a sandworm!"
K'aijeen of course writhed as though her mother were a sandworm, "MOM STAHP!"
K'thalen leaned away from the mother and daughter, weaving his fingers together and locking his hands behind his head in a relaxed, waiting pose. Still with that crooked smile. "Not too far off," he chuckled a bit somberly. K'airos lowered her spear, holding it horizontally with both hands. The scene made her chuckle softly, her tail and ears raising somewhat.
K'piru shook her head, tail whipping behind her rapidly, and began what could only be described as a near full-body inspection of her daughter's well-being. "I had no idea what'd become of you! You worried me so much, when K'ile came by and I realized you were missing and I couldn't find you anywhere near camp...! Are you alright? Do you hurt anywhere? Tell me where it hurts."
"I said stop," K'aijeen tried to smack her mother's hands away, "I didn't do anything and nothing happened. Dad poked my trap and almost died. Fuss over him!"
At K'piru's wide-eyed look in his direction, K'thalen moved his hands from behind his head to spread them out to either side. "All limbs accounted for. Nothing to worry about!" She didn't look convinced and then frowned back at K'aijeen, still trying to keep ahold of her daughter despite the struggling.
"Your trap?" She questioned, lips pursing.
"It was an impressive trap!" K'airos interjected, probably doing nothing to help Aijeen on her current struggle.
Probably not, no, but K'aijeen did accept the praise. "It was a good trap! I needed a Sand Drake spine and other stuff so I set a trap with fresh Vulture meat and blood and rigged it to explode with some of the powder I learned about for shamaning!"
"The dad ruined it." She gave her father an accusatory glare.
K'thalen shrugged at that, but K'piru's eyes narrowed with the look of a hawk homing in on its prey. "Who taught you that?" A pause, "No, it doesn't matter. What possessed you to do such a thing?"
Perceiving the question as obviously ludicrous, K'aijeen answered, "Cause I needed a Sand Drake spine. And stuff. Like I said? I didn't do anything wrong!"
K'airos sighed at the thought of what would be the inevitable conclusion of this exchange.
His lips in a straight line and his eyes mostly concealed by his hair, K'ile Tia strode calmly and slowly back into the camp, spear held to his back by a leather tie that ran over his otherwise bare shoulders. He paused when he saw the gathering of Thalen's clan, and his expression darkened, and he strode on towards them.
"You could've gotten yourself killed!" K'piru exclaimed. "And you took reagents from my stores! And who knows what else..."
K'aijeen's reply was indignant, "I was gonna put 'em back! Dad ruined my trap so he owes you for the wasted stuff!"
K'thalen caught sight of his brother fairly quickly and waved casually at him in silence, flashing a grin.
K'ile did not return his brother's wave or grin. Instead, he approached K'airos directly. Walking up to the woman and crossing his arms, he stated, "You've helped Aijeen with stuff like this before. Did you know anything about this?"
"You can't just take things without asking and excuse it by saying you were going to put them back! You can't just "put back" reagents - if you use them, they're gone!" K'piru gave her daughter a half-exasperated, half-worried look. "You put yourself and others - your own father! - in danger, Aijeen. Why??"
K'airos looked at K'ile to the eyes, for just a moment. The briefest and most shameful of moments. She quickly turned away and shaked her head. "She did not tell me about this."
K'aijeen threw her head back and sighed in great exasperation, saying slowly, "I needed a Sand. Drake. Spine! I've said that fifty times!"
Closing her eyes to try and calm herself, K'piru asked stiffly, "What do you need a sand drake spine for?"
K'ile replied to K'airos, "Inform the elders of that if they ask, then," and then turned to walk over to the others.
Smiling at her mother's question, K'aijeen replied, "My education. And eyes and a heart. Also brain goo if there was any left." She laid her hand on the satchel that hung at her hip, "I got plenty of goo from the vultures so wasn't worried about it."
"What?" K'piru leaned back slightly to stare at her daughter fully. "Your education doesn't involve... sand drake... eyes! Or hearts. Or getting yourself killed! Or--or stealing!"
K'aijeen scoffed, "Not if you had anything to say about it. I'm educating myself. I'm gonna be the best shaman this tribe's ever had!"
Meanwhile, K'ile took up a stance next to K'piru, his arms crossed over his chest and his expression very serious. K'airos tried to say something, but couldn't find any defense for her sister. She chose to keep quiet for the moment.
K'thalen reached out then to lightly touch K'piru's arm. "No sense getting worked up over it, though. What happened, happened, and we're all okay, yeah?" He gave her a disarming grin, which she didn't return in any form. "From what I can tell, there's just one thing we gotta handle right away."
Her ears pressing back into her hair, K'piru gave her daughter a pained look.
K'aijeen frowned at each of her parents in turn, and then looked at her uncle, "What do you want?"
K'ile's reply was simple and sharp, "You're in trouble. You need to explain yourself to the elders this time."
Taking a moment to regain her composure, K'piru nodded at K'ile's words. "I've told you many times, Aijeen... You cannot just take things without asking."
Thinking for a moment, K'aijeen renewed her indignant air and looked proud, "I was contributing to the tribe. Learning more about shamanism makes our shamans better! I was making the tribe better! The elders will understand that better than you, mom!"
K'airos approached, somewhat shyly, dragging her spear as if it was the first time she was handed one. "How much meat did you steal, anyway?"
Answering on K'aijeen's behalf, K'ile said, "Enough to feed a family for a few days. It will be impossible to make up the deficit before it's time for the feast."
K'ile gave K'aijeen a hard look and pointed in the general direction of the elder's tent, "Now. Walk or I'll carry you by your ears."
K'piru finally let her hands fall away from her daughter, pulling her arms to herself and clasping her hands to her chest. K'thalen reached out to give his daughter a conciliatory pat on the back. "The best thing to do is to own up to mistakes and work to remedy them. So, we gonna take a walk?"
"Remember to mention how you had the tribe's interests in mind!" K'airos offered uselessly.
K'aijeen proclaimed proudly, "If the elders are wise they'll know I was right and give me what I need to try again!" She started off towards the elder's tent.
K'ile turned to K'airos, "You, too. You encourage her. The elders might have something to say to you about that."
Her tail lowered greatly and curved between her knees. The ears would have done the same if they could fall so much. "Al-alright." she nodded.
K'piru turned to start to follow her daughter. K'thalen just stood with his ears cocked, looking conflicted for the first time.
Before moving off with the others, K'ile smacked K'thalen's shoulder, "Don't worry. S'just girl talk. They'll work it out. Don't you have some huntress rolling out her good blankets for you or something?"
K'thalen snorted. "What, this time of year?" He cast a frown at K'piru's back, hurrying after the smaller form of her daughter, and then leveled a suddenly broad grin at his brother. "Don't you have a sun to take care of?" And turned on one heel in the sand, flinging his arms out dramatically.
Frowning at his brother's joke, he said, "A Tia needs hobbies."
"So does a nunh," the nunh chuckled and scratched the back of his head, just below one ear, which twitched in response. "Eh, think there are some kiddos who might not be causing as much trouble as they should without me around."
"You working on raising more kids like Aijeen?" K'ile delivered deadpan, "Azeyma help us all. Last thing we need is a swarm of kids after our brains."
He tossed back his head and his shoulders shook in soundless laughter. "Azeyma's helping them alright, if you can trust their mighty battle cries." On his last words, he brought both hands with fingers curled forward and made a clawing gesture at K'ile.
"We are not drake-brained." said K'airos over her shoulder, walking towards the elders' tent.
Ignoring K'thalen's growls, K'ile said to K'airos, "I know of one drake-brained fool in the tribe," and nodded to his brother. He was heading off towards the elders' tent at a full walk now.
![[Image: AntiThalSig.png]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/179079766/AntiThalSig.png)
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
Hipparion Tribe (Sagolii)Â - Â Antimony Jhanhi's Wiki
