Feast and Firedancing [K-tribe]

[Twinflame]

K'ile Tia paused outside of the elders' tent at the center of the Hipparion Tribe's camp. The sun hung high over the deep Sagolii, burning its way through the exposed skin on his shoulders and back. Through hair red as a fire, he watched K'luha Haaz being carried into the Shamans' tent by K'rahto Tia and K'nahli Yohko. Behind them followed K'zhumi, the shaman, and K'tahja, who was K'luha's adopted daughter. K'ile had played at being K'tajha's adoptive father, and wanted to teach her how to dance, but what were the chances of that when the girl's real father, K'yhoko Nunh, was still alive and so well-respected.

 

Any other Tia would've left it at that and let K'yohko have the child for his own. But K'ile did not think that K'yohko was a very good father and for whatever reason -- likely the Tia's affection for K'luha -- he wanted K'tahjha to have more happiness in her life than K'yohko was able to provide. The tribe's last great Nunh had been K'ile's brother, K'thalen, a joyful man and an excellent father. K'ile was no K'thalen, but he was certainly no K'yohko either.

 

K'ile Tia's ears twitched as he listened to K'luha's pained shouts, the woman's injuries being agitated by the movement. She was in the shaman's care, now, though, and K'tahjha was there to comfort her. K'ile didn't need to worry. Everything would be fine.

 

He flicked his wrist and the five tiny stones on his bracelet flickered. Then he turned away from the sunlight and stepped into the elders' tent. It was shaded and stuffy, warm, with the scent of incense. The fetishes hanging from the ceiling were unfamiliar. He wasn't sure how the ancient Miqo'te managed to build and hang new constructs of bone and animal sinew so frequently, but he didn't know for sure what specific purposes they served either. His ritual was and always had been fire dancing, a very different but perhaps no less important part of the beliefs.

 

K'deiki blended in with the shadows and the dirt, as though she became one with the tent as soon as she entered. K'ile saw off in the dark shadows of a corner, the large glowing plates of the elder K'takka's silver eyes. It was all that was visible of her, besides her frayed and rickety silhouette curled into a tight ball upon luxurious pillows. The eyes stared at K'ile, wide awake, unreadable.

 

He could not see K'janhi, the last of the only three elders to survive the Calamity. Like the firedancers, their numbers had been decimated. Unlike them, however, K'ile was the singular firedancer to survive Cartenau.

 

K'ile ducked his head now, make his meager stature even shorter. He made his ears fall limp to either side of his head, forced his tail still, slowed his strides to a timid shuffle. K'luha had said the elders wanted to see him immediately, that they were angry with him and would punish him. He was not surprised. One of K'ile's jobs was the enforcement of punishment doled out by the elders, so he knew well what agitated them and what sort of behavior they required alongside apologies.

 

For one, K'ile maintained silence. The instant he stepped into the tent, he had lost all right to speak or act. It had been a ritual portal into a world in which he possessed no knowledge or wisdom. He came empty but for his feeble will, his tiny wants, so small that to even utter them would be a waste of breath. He took on this guise out of faith in the elders, that they would not be callous, that they would give him the wisdom and the knowledge he needed, and that they would put value on the things he desired without need to be convinced.

 

All K'ile had to do was to decide if he should kneel immediately or wait until they demanded that he do so. He opted for the former, placing himself in an open spot of dirt near the front of the tent and dropping to his knees there, keeping his eyes on the ground in front of him.

 

((Tagging: K'deiki, K'zhumi, K'luha, K'tahjha, K'nahlo, K'rahto, K'takka, K'janhi, K'iara, etcetera. This thread brought to you by the letter 'K', for Hipparion!... wait.))

[Clover]

The trip to the medical tent felt endless for the Tia. He didn't know if K'nahli was looking at him, or if the way he was carrying K'luha's board, careful as he tried to be, was still too rough and painful for the woman. He wouldn't look at either of them, his eyes focused on what was behind his back. An excuse, perhaps, albeit a very justified one in such circumstances.

 

Once K'luha finally found herself in the safety of the tent, the Tia took a moment to breathe and pass a hand across his forehead. He wasn't tired, not really; it was just difficult to deal with whatever was troubling his mind.

 

Serious, he looked at his elder sister K'zhumi. "Do what you must. I'll be outside in case you need me."

 

There was nothing he could do there, after all, other than obstruct his sister's job. He didn't want to stay anyway. K'luha needed to rest and so did he. His eyes flicked toward K'nahli for half a second, before he made his way out of the tent. No more words were said, and none was needed.

 

[...]

 

"Xha'li?" K'mih repeated his name, studying the sound of it. She'd heard that Keepers of the Moon were different, but she'd never known much about them. There was a certain amount of innocent surprise in her tone, albeit this one didn't raise much. "You use your mother's name...?"

 

As much as she loved her mother, she was proud of being known for her father's name. Nunhs were very important for the tribe as a whole; she couldn't imagine herself being named any other way.

At the miqo'te's invitation for her to acquaintance his chocobo in a closer manner, K'mih seemed a bit nervous. She looked around carefully, wondering if it'd be alright for her to do such a thing. For good or for bad, there were no disapproving or angry looks she could find at that moment. The young miqo'te smiled shyly and stepped towards the chocobo and his owner. Her hand moved then, slowly, until her fingers did as much as graze the animal's head. The touch was insecure at first, as if fearing that the chocobo would react badly to her unknown scent.

[Naunet]

As K'deiki settled herself back into the dirt, her withered body shaking with a few weary coughs, the shadowed form of K'jhanhi stepped forward between the two women. His dark, leathery skin shifted and cracked as he squinted yellow eyes towards the tia. After dealing with K'ailia, the respect shown here was refreshing; it felt like their family had finally settled down.

 

That didn't change the current issues, however. Two of them. The first...

 

"It is good to see the spirits of our fallen returned to us," he rumbled, thin eyes shifting towards the bracelet wrapped snug about K'ile's wrist. "Though they should never have been taken in the first place. Tell us how you thought to honor them by dragging their souls across the world as nothing more than jewelry. Do they not deserve to remain with family?"

[Twinflame]

K'ile Tia ducked his head to conceal the twisting of his expression at K'jhanhi's words. His gut turned at that. They were angry at him for wearing the bracelet? He shifted his wrist, causing the red stones to flicker, and said, "There isn't much more precious to me than these stones. The firedancers were my friends. We went to Cartenau together." He brushed his hands over the stones, feeling their warmth against his skin. "We still walk together. I wouldn't be able to hide them in a box in the dark."

[Xha'li Moui]

"I do," Xha'li replied grinning, "Just as Seeker girls use their fathers name as a last name its traditional for Keeper boys to take their mother's name affix a suffix designating the order of their birth.  In my case 'Li' means third."

 

Rin looked at K'mih uncertain at first as she approached before butting his head into her hand with a soft wark as her fingers brushed against his head.

 

Looking at Rin Xha'li grinned, "See?  He's normally quite a friendly boy; Though I doubt K'ile would get the same response giving how we met on the way here."

[Naunet]

"You misunderstand," K'deiki rasped from where she had knelt in the shadows. One knobby hand extended from the cloth wrapping her, palm up, and trembled with the unsteadiness of age. "We would not ask you to part with them in such a way. Yet when you abandoned your family--" a hacking cough interrupted her words momentarily before she continued, "... however temporary. You took them with you, without regard to their home. To where they belonged."

[Twinflame]

His ears twitching, K'ile Tia bit down on the words he was about to say. Empty of knowledge, empty of wisdom: he needed to remember those things. The elders were seeing this in a way that he would not, and he resisted the urge to object, to accuse them of not understanding. They understood how he thought already, and had either taken it into account or disregarded it. Still, "I had believed that they had belonged with me. With the firedancers. Forgive me, but no single person in this tribe carries the memories and skills of the firedancers like I do."

 

"Pompous," a hiss snapped out of the shadows. The silver of elder K'takka's eyes widened even more, and then narrowed. "You believe only yourself worthy of them? You believe you have right to them."

 

Did he? He certainly didn't think anyone else in the tribe would see any benefit from wearing them. They would have no luck with them if they were not taught, and without the ritual, the dance was pointless. "I took them from the wrists of my friends. I wouldn't part with them if given the choice, no matter where I go."

[Naunet]

K'deiki's face turned towards the shadows where the voice had lashed out from, and though her eyes could not pierce the darkness there, she could easily picture K'takka's expression. In her mind, the woman appeared perhaps much younger than she was, but that was only a detail. She sighed, shook her head. "We would not ask you to part with them, firedancer. Your anger is misplaced."

 

"We would ask you to not part with your living family so callously," the former nunh finally spoke again, a bite in his tone that had not been there before to counter the tia's one defensiveness. "You didn't just take them with you - you abandoned others who yet still lived. Yes you returned, but that does not change that you left your family without reason."

[Twinflame]

"You won't like the reason," K'ile volunteered. He leaned slightly forward, lifting his face to look through his hair and let K'deiki see his eyes. She would need to, in order to know that what he was going to say was true, and not the result of madness of manipulation. "K'piru was in Ul'dah. So was K'airos; she survived Cartenau somehow, but didn't come home. I know we aren't supposed to talk to those who have left, but I couldn't just leave without talking to them."

[Naunet]

K'deiki felt her chest grow cold at the tia's words. K'piru, in Ul'dah? And her granddaughter... Her head dropped in disbelief.

 

"She does not deserve the honor of the tribe's name," K'jhanhi snapped, yellow eyes dark and bitter. That she lived came as a shock - that K'airos lived even moreso - but he had severed his daughter from his thoughts five years ago, and he would not allow her to come back to them.

 

From her spot on the ground, K'deiki peered unseeingly towards K'ile. "But K'airos... we thought she... Why would she not return to us?"

[K'nahli]

K'nahli's eyes remained fixed on the ground next to where they had lain K'luha. With arms wrapped firmly across her chest, she attempted to maintain the illusion that she were simply lost in thought - though perhaps it had been a less-than convincing act to whomever may have seen.

 

Her fingers created tiny hollows beneath where they dug firmly into her skin, an involuntary reaction on her part once that annoying voice consumed the air within the tent around her. He has spoken so simply, so briefly... and yet it were as if each syllable he offered stood leeringly above as an insult toward her. A growing expression of agitation that the girl had long been accustomed to bearing hid just below of the surface of a deceptively stoic one. An occasional slow blink would timidly interrupt it's unmoving state, adding to it's appearance of calm while secretly engaging in a silent struggle to not let her emotions get the upper hand. It became even more difficult when she could feel the tia's amber eyes upon her, burning into her with an unjust feeling of contempt - even if only briefly.

 

The soft ruffling of the tent flaps couldn't have come soon enough as they finally announced her safety, giving her the chance to glance in the direction of where he stood. She could still feel his presence loitering persistently outside like an insatiable mosquito, though he did at least remain out of view. She exhaled lightly, hoping too that her frustration would be released along with her breath.... had only it been that easy for her.

Shifting her weight, the girl turned slightly to face the other occupants, focusing particularly on K'zhumi. The shaman had naturally been preoccupied with tending to K'luha though K'nahli still found herself hesitating on the decision of whether or not to speak to her. She sounded both impatient and angry back in the cart but a few moments ago and should K'nahli get snapped at by yet another person....

 

She was not in a good place to retain her cool.

 

 

"Is.... there naught else you need? Otherwise I wish to oblige my.. father's request..." she finally uttered with some apprehension.

[Twinflame]

K'ile almost told the elders about K'aijeen. It was on the tip of his tongue, that the girl had lied to K'airos. But that might just complicate the story. That K'aijeen held sway over the hearts of his family just made her a more problematic kind of exile, a troubling flavor of exile. If K'ile wanted to open the hearts of the elders to those they had lost in the past, he would have to tell the story in the right way. Mentioning K'aijeen was likely to make them defensive. Instead...

 

"Airos thought that there weren't any survivors," he said, looking up at K'deiki more boldly now. She was the one most likely to be swayed by sentiment, the others too bitter or protective. "She didn't realize there was a tribe to come home to. When she found out that wasn't true, she celebrated!" He smiled at K'deiki, "You know how happy she can get, how excited she can be. You've never seen her as happy as she was when she found out we were still alive."

[Naunet]

K'jhanhi's own expression softened at that, K'ile's words spurring memories of his granddaughter. He could see a similar reaction in K'deiki's face, the former huntress's thin, crackled lips curving into a faint, sad smile. Shifting his weight in the sand to ease pressure on hips that had grown weak in age, K'jhanhi returned his attention to K'ile, scowl back in place.

 

"She was happy. And yet she is not here. If what you say were true..." He let out a rattling sigh that was half growl in his old throat. "She would be welcomed home."

[Twinflame]

"She didn't even look!" K'takka snapped from the shadows, her eyes flashing in the light. The silhouette of the rickety woman shook. "She did not return from the Cartenau with the others and did not search afterward! That might be forgivable, but for now she is as absent as the others, and not to be interacted with." Her hadn lifted into a shaft of light, her long claws shivering. Her one, twisted finger with its wicked, singularly black claw, extended towards K'ile, "You abandoned family to run to the side of exiles, summoned exiles here, and I hear you've now brought one back personally!"

 

Ears twitching under the unpleasantness of K'takka's words, K'ile did not look at that old woman. She would take it as a sign of disrespect or objection, if he was unlucky, as though her eyes had turned dark in the Calamity and saw only unpleasant things now. There was no way around the anger of the elders, though. The things they accused him of were true, and he could never be anything if he did not submit to their judgement concerning every bit of it.

 

"I have more to confess to." K'ile Tia returned his eyes to the sand, and without waiting for reply, went on, "I convinced K'luha to bring K'tahja to the tribe without waiting for the opinions of the elders. I spoke with K'ailia after her exile and told her to return, hoping you would accept her back. I also met K'hai and spoke with him. When K'luha was hurt, I asked K'haaz to heal her with outsiders' magic, knowing he was an exile."

[Naunet]

K'deiki bowed her head, body swaying slightly. She let silence follow K'ile's words, and the other elders seemed inclined to do the same as the weight of the tia's confessions settled into the air of the tent. She heard K'jhanhi's feet shuffling in the sand and wondered at his thoughts. He had taken the loss of his granddaughters and, shortly after, K'piru very hard. News of them alone was likely troubling enough.

 

"These transgressions are many," she breathed. "K'ailia did return, but she was ungrateful, immovable. She could not stay. You lacked wisdom in that decision and brought much strife to our family." Another breath, that was followed by a hacking cough which shook her body violently. When she spoke next, her voice was quieter, careful to not disturb her lungs, but no less authoritative than any elder, "It does not seem that your outsider magic has done K'luha any good either. Even my old ears could hear her pain, and she has known more pain than she deserves."

 

The withered woman lifted her head towards K'ile, though she could only barely make out the tia's form. When she spoke, her tone was almost sad, "Young K'tahjha may be your only glimpse of wisdom in your actions. The only decision of yours that has not brought pain."

[Twinflame]

"I'm expecting to be punished, but I want you to know all of it before you do. There's more." He made sure to speak quickly, so he couldn't be interrupted. "On top of all of that, I've also been intimate with K'luha, and K'piru. I knew exactly what I was doing at the time. It was-" Something his his head with a surprising firmness, a small rigid object that broke against his skull and made his ear twitch wildly. It made him lean to one side, successfully silencing him. The remains of a bone fetish clattered to the ground next to his leg.

 

"I've heard enough!" K'takka hissed from the shadows where the bone fetish had come from. "K'jhanhi! Take the bracelet from him! We will give it to Yohko. Let this Tia rot int he desert."

[Naunet]

The former nunh's face was a stormy shadow, his heavy, wrinkled brow drawn low over deep-set eyes. He shuffled a few steps towards where K'ile knelt. Off to one side, K'deiki looked away.

 

"Tell us more, firedancer," he growled. "Leave nothing out. Not a single thought."

[Twinflame]

What was to tell? Specifics? K'ile shifted in visual discomfort, keeping his eyes downward, and then said, "K'luha and I began to share a room in Drybone during the scouting mission. I crossed a lot of lines, especially when we were getting K'tahjha from Gridania. As for Piru, in Ul'dah, we were close briefly. I'd never mate with a woman without becoming Nunh, I can promise that, but I know that I went well beyond what is allowed. I've kissed Luha and held her."

 

A hiss came from the shadows,. K'takka spat,  "I won't listen to more of this, K'jhanhi! If you mean for him to recite every touch between he and the Nunh's woman, I will leave."

[Naunet]

"Are you trying to get yourself exiled, firedancer?" K'jhanhi muttered, words low and bitter. "Are you trying to bring more grief to this family? More than you already have?"

 

"Stop this," K'deiki's voice sounded from the shadows, weary, resigned. She shifted in her cloth wrappings, and there came the sound of bones clattering together as her hands moved within. "K'ile Tia, son of an exile," she uttered his name as though awarding an official title. Her head turned and the dim light of the tent caught the deep creases pulling down on her features. "It is fitting that you would bring so many exiles to us then... I think. I find myself wondering... what is the meaning in all of it."

[Twinflame]

"I'm just no good at turning people away," K'ile answered, eyeing the broken bone fetish that still sat against his leg. He could feel the glares of K'takka and K'jhanhi upon him, heavy and burning. "I want to confess everything I did so that you can punish me for it and we can leave it behind, move on, move forward. I brought enough food to provide a feast to the tribe. I want to put my mistakes behind me, and then challenge K'yohko for the role of Nunh. K'luha will vouch for me so that the ritual can take place."

[Naunet]

"And if your punishment is to be lost to the sands?" It was K'deiki of all people who said this, her ancient features unreadable in the shadows.

 

"Give me your arm," K'jhanhi suddenly spoke and didn't wait for K'ile's response before bending with visible effort to take hold of the tia's wrist and lift it up. The red stones there flickered. "I do not want to cause our family any more grief. You will not be abandoned." He spoke without pity as his gnarled fingers grasped the bracelet to pull it up over K'ile's hand. "But you will not be gifted with the responsibility of our ancestors until such a time as you can prove your worth in bringing happiness to our family once more."

[Twinflame]

He knew the names of everyone who had worn those stones, each dead wrist from which he'd taken them at Cartenau. K'ile could remember the way the stone on his wrist had resonated with K'ada's, flickering in rhythm with her own as they danced. The stone had glowed on her wrist after she'd died. It had left a circular burn on her pallid skin when he'd pulled it over, and continued to burn until he'd joined it to the others and danced with them. It was as though the stones themselves had mourned. It was as though the souls that clung to them had wanted to dance.

 

K'ile did not resist the K'jhanhi, letting him take the stones. But he did speak, with a bite, "Who will dance with them? Who knows how? K'yohko can't even smile for his own children, let alone dance for the tribe. Who will dance for the feast?"

[Lyraciilee]

The trip to the shaman’s tent was near unbearable. Though they tried to hold the jostling to a minimum, and though she held something to numb the pain under her tongue, K’luha couldn’t help the pained gasps or cries from the movement. Her mind could not formulate words to comprehend it, she could only understand the pain and that she wanted it desperately to stop. And stop it did as she was finally set down under the cool shade of the shaman’s tent. It was the inside of a tent she had not seen in a long time. It didn’t bring her memories of another time for once either. For once, she could only cry and mewl weakly at the lingering pain that seemed as if it was swallowing her whole being. She hardly heard K’rahto leave the tent, or K’nahli’s tentative question if help was needed. Somewhere in her mind she heard it, but it was difficult to care or comprehend with the pain.

 

Writhing weakly on the ground, Luha searched for something she hold onto. Something that could possibly ease her. She didn’t find anything to hold or grip at all. Instead her hands seemed to turn inward and grasp at her tattered light clothing. It ripped easily with her heavy handed grasp and Luha hissed at its lack of help.

 

 

K’iara felt a little bewildered. Nothing for months and suddenly everything seemed to be happening at once. As it was with her uncle K’ile, K’iara was left completely out of the loop. There was no explanation to her why it was Luha was so injured, or why there was food in the wagon, or even why he brought a stranger with him; it simply was. That was just the way it seemed to be with Uncle K’ile, K’iara felt defeatedly.

 

Shaking her head in annoyance, K’iara briskly made her way to the cart and began to unload it. There was more food and water here than she had seen in a long time and when it sat all off of the wagon on the dusty ground she held it in her eyes in wonder. So much food! And water! It really would be a feast! K’iara licked her lips unconsciously. Her stomach roared and gnawed on her with hunger. But she would wait. They had to wait. If they did not have a feast, they could make this last… probably for the whole trip to Drybone! It was wonderful. The best part of K’ile and K’luha’s return, certainly.

 

With newfound reason, K’iara began hauling the crates of food to the supply tent. Everyone would want to know about the food he had brought back with him, and certainly everyone wanted to eat it as soon as possible.

[Izmina]

Concern for her aunt grew as K'tahjha followed K'nahli and K'rahto back, carrying the healing supplies. Ears drooping Tahj wished she could take even a small part of the pain, but there was nothing she could do but offer support to K'luha. She slipped inside the medical tent relieved to have finally gotten there, seeing how much pain her aunt was in she carefully deposited the supplies within reach of the healer and knelt beside K'luha. Tahj took one of the searching hands in her own, and murmuring soothing sounds began to smooth back her aunt's hair and gently touching her face, anything to distract  the woman from the extreme pain she was experiencing. Noticing K'nahli was still near, Tahj looked up and offered a warm smile, concern still large in her eyes, "Thanks for getting her here so carefully."

 

K'zhumi paused in sorting the supplies she would need to nod approvingly at K'tahjha soothing K'luha, Zhumi decided she could stay, she would be of help comforting her patient. Focusing on her patient and preparations, Zhumi had not noticed K'nahli lingering until she spoke. Turning to her, she gave the girl an appreciative nod, her eyes gentle,"Yes, thank you for your assistance. If you have a task you may certainly go."

[Clover]

K'mih's shy smile turned into a soft chuckle when the chocobo leaned into her touch. She stroke his yellow feathers with more confidence now, enjoying the softness under her fingers. Ahh, if only she could have her own chocobo!

 

With her hand not leaving the chocobo's head just yet, she turned her gaze to the male miqo'te at the mention of K'ile. Her expression was a mix of curiosity and concern.

 

"...What did my uncle do...?"