Feast and Firedancing [K-tribe]

[Xha'li Moui]

Xha'li nodded and stood up, turning towards the table with the supplies he quickly made his way over and grabbed the requested items, before returning and handing them to K'zhumi. Grinning down at K'hai as he awoke he spoke softly, "Welcome back to the land of the living."

[Izmina]

K'zhumi returned K'hai's smile with a tired one of her own,"You seem to have all of what you started with, although it's not in the best condition."  she nods her thanks at Li and rethreads her needle then pauses to look up at K'hai,"Do you need painkiller for this? Or can you handle a small needle?" 

[Kailia]

K'hai chuckled, "I am a tough tia. Once, I could of competed to be a nuhn if I so chose. I can handle a little needle."

 

He then looked around trying to find his sister, and soon found her with K'tahjha, "You must be the new girl I heard about."

[Izmina]

K'tahjha looks up from tending her aunt at the sound of K'hai's voice and smiles shyly. "My name is Tahj." Peering at his wounds and wrinkling her nose,"Looks painful, what did you fight with?"

[Kailia]

K'hai winced as he felt the needle pierce his skin, "An Amalj'aa Battledrake..."

 

He studied K'tahjha closely for a few moments, ignoring the sewing, "The Amalj'aa will be coming. We've dispatched their scouting party. More will be coming. We will need every available hand that can use a weapon at the ready."

 

His face got serious then, "You look to be of an age close to partaking in your trials. This is important, so you must do as I say. The Amalj'aa will be coming as I said. This means the camp will have to be moved. Your aunt is in good hands here. You should go to the lead huntress and volunteer yourself for work. Do whatever task they require."

 

He looked to K'zhumi, "And assuming your work on me is near completion, I will help you pack your things."

[Izmina]

K'tahjha's eyes widened at K'hai,"A battledrake? I've not even seen one yet." Her eyes dropped shyly back down to her aunt under his gaze until she heard him speak again.  Trials? Moving camp? She frowned at him, "I haven't passed my trials and I'm not leaving aunt K'luha." Her gaze became hard and her ears slicked back.

[Kailia]

K'hai simply shrugged, "I am tia, all I can do is suggest. But you should still prepare to move. If I know K'yohko, he is meeting with the elders now and official word will come... and hopefully he comes gets his arm looked at."

[Izmina]

Focusing on her work, it took a second for K'zhumi to realize the tia had spoken to her,"You will go no where. We are not finished and you have a muscle almost torn through in that arm. Li and I still need to decide how best to heal it. If it tears through, you will lose use of that arm." she gives him a glare to press home her meaning and returns to sewing.

 

K'tahjha leaves off glaring at the tia and returns to her aunt. But her mind is spinning quickly. Were they really in danger? If the amal'jaa really were coming, she should have her bow. She decided as soon as her aunt woke next she would go out and get her more water and a bite of food and gather her bow and arrows on the way back.

[Xha'li Moui]

Running towards the camp Kedah dived into the bags and rummaged around, popping out after a few minutes with a bag grasped in her teeth that she dragged a short distance away before dropping in and crawling under it and working her way into the harness before turning and bounding back towards the healers tent.

[Kailia]

K'hai laid his head back, "Then do what you need to. But make it quick."

[Xha'li Moui]

Xha'li looked down at X'hai and chuckled softly as he shook his head, "Sorry to give you more bad news but even the best case scenario will have you keeping that arm in a sling for a few weeks, and likely needing to take some more time beyond that to get back to where you were."

[Kailia]

K'hai looked to the stranger, "Get to where I was? Friend, I once had muscles the size of one of them Highlander Hyurs. I used to wrestle sandworms to the ground for fun and the hunt."

 

He looked up at the tent roof, "But that war with the Garleans five years ago.. left me with aether sickness which kept me in a deep sleep until recently. When I awoke, I had to make my body relearn how to walk and do even the most basic things."

 

He looked back to Xha'li, "And even on my trip here, I trained, but my body still is no where near where it was. I have a now exiled child, K'ailia, to thank for removing the last of the Aether Sickness from me."

[Twinflame]

K'ile had gathered a number of huntresses near the center of camp, where K'iara had stored the food he'd brought in. Breaking into the boxes of preserved meat was like a crime to half of them, but the others were all too eager to do so. The conflict he'd had with K'iara played out again: save the food for the trip or use it for a feast? Only for K'ile, the debate was awkward, for he was the one insisting on the feast and there was only one reason a Tia would provide the tribe with a feast. This had helped motivate the reluctant huntresses, because it was ritual, and so it was at least more than base indulgence. When K'ile suggested they have only the most sparing of 'feasts' to sate their starving bellies, prepare them for the journey, and save the rest of the meat for the trip, it brought the argument to the end.

 

He would have to thank K'iara for that again when he got the chance.

 

The Tia lingered near the doorflap of the ten, watching the huntresses divide the food between what they would eat tomorrow night and what they would save for the trip north. He had to dodge knowing glances from huntresses who saw through his transparent motivation. Or maybe they were just questioning why he wasn't helping them work. Well, food had never been K'ile's job. As he turned to gaze outward, he saw a flash of pink hair and tail.

 

K'mih swept in, spoke in a dire tone, and then was gone so fast that K'ile barely even heard her words. An aura of discomfort suddenly radiated from inside the tent, though, and K'ile turned to see the huntresses that had just been sorting through the food for the feast in a state of pause. Tails shivered, ears turned towards one another. And then, wordlessly, they began to put the food away.

 

K'ile's ears fell. "What?" He turned to watch the pink of K'mih's tail shrinking away into another part of the camp. "What did-..." He bit down on his teeth. There was a scent of blood left in K'mih's wake. Her father's blood. Idiot. Only an irate child would leave camp at this time of night and come home wounded with tales of Amal'jaa. He had probably attacked them on sight and outnumbered. Of course.

 

"Hey," he turned to the huntresses. "Don't put the food away. I'll figure out what's going on and come back."

 

Of course the women ignored him. A Tia could not stand in the way of a hunt. Maybe when the women had their weapons in hand, they would hear his words again, but it would be too late to affect this.

 

K'ile stormed into the sand, following the scent of blood. He muttered, "I hate the Nunh," as he stomped, firey hair shifting in front of his eyes as the evening winds blew in. The air was cold. It would be very cold soon. The tribe would normally huddle around blankets and fires. But now because K'yohko had no common sense, they would be on high alert. And what were the chances anyone would be in the mood for a feast now?

 

Maybe better than his cynicism allowed him to believe. There was a certain pull to feasting under the glare of threat. It had a defiance to it that suited the tribe. However, the Nunh had disrespected his office by doing a woman's work and getting himself injured. What an idiot to craft such a mess. K'ile would have to find K'yohko and discern for himself the state of things.

 

So he followed the strong scent of the Nunh's blood.

[Lyraciilee]

K’yohko’s breath felt heavy and ragged, a faint wheeze to his lungs as the simple act lifted and raised his chest with so much effort. His eyes flicked across, watching K’nahli’s quickly fleeting form with eyes that so rapidly dulled from their earlier flame. His stomach hung heavily in his chest, and something seemed to catch in his throat as he breathed so heavily. The words were not what he had meant to say, but they had been said. If there was nothing that did not prick K’yohko liked thorns, it was only that K’nahli and K’lyhri would help defend the family.

 

The Nunh’s dulling eyes flicked to his estranged daughter, and his lips pressed tightly to one another. There was a faint whitishness to them that had not be there before, and the same draining of color seemed to pull at this skin and his eyes.

 

“Yes…” The word was soft and hushed, absent of the rage that had so consumed him before. With K’nahli’s departure to defend the tribe, there was a certain air of relaxation to him now. Certainly, he was not relaxed, but his rage seemed to have been quelled now. “I can get myself there. Please…” His lips paused, his breathing hanging raggedly in the air between them. “Join the other huntresses. Protect the family. I will join you all when I have been seen.”

 

K’yohko turned away from his daughter, his ears having returned to their natural, if not sagging, state. His tail hung behind him, dragging in the dust as his feet too dragged through the sand to guide him in a vague direction of K’zhumi’s tent.

[Twinflame]

K'ile followed the scent of the Nunh's blood to the Elder's tent, which made sense. If there were Amal'jaa around, K'yohko was just the right kind of idiot to run bleeding to the Elders' tent and tell them himself. As the firey-haired Tiw came around the tent, he saw spots of blood in the sand, and his nose wrinkled in disgust. Open blood would draw blood-feeding insects and carrion-eaters. Even if in small number, K'piru had taught him such creatures were bad omens, and the tribe didn't need them right now.

 

His gaze rose to watch K'yohko Nunh staggering towards the shamans' tent, belatedly seeking to heal himself. His path meandered, his footsteps without rhythm. K'ile suppressed a growl and started after him, but slowed to a walk almost immediately. What good would yelling at K'yohko do now? He wasn't even sure what was going on yet.

 

Instead, once his senses lifted from the offensive stink of K'yohko's blood, he noted the scent of a woman nearby, familiar but only distantly so, and with the now-familiar smells of Ul'dah clinging to her body. Once he knew she was there, K'ile lifted his gaze and was easily able to pick out her figure. She was close, and he diverted his path towards her. Anger simmered thick in the veins of his arms and it was difficult to keep himself from reaching out and grabbing the woman to get her attention.

 

He suppressed the gesture, but his voice was still rough when he made himself known. "What's happening? Why is everyone acting like there's an Amal'jaa raiding party on their way in?" Only belatedly did he note her features, the unique quality of her scent; this was not someone he knew. "Who are you?"

[Naunet]

The quiet of the elders' tent did not return once its visitors had fled, though none of them spoke. Shuffling of bare feet through sand, cloth against cloth, the tinkling of trinkets dropped into pouches, and the weary, heavy breaths of the old all filled the dark space. It was important that they be prepared to leave soon, and to leave no trace of their presence behind.

 

K'takka moved through the shadows, snuffing the dull embers of incense, though their smokey smell lingered in the closed tent. K'deiki's shriveled hands brushed across sigils drawn previously in the sand, wiping them clean. Bone bowls clattered as K'jhanhi emptied their contents, and fetishes clinked musically as he stored them away, fingers working familiar knots into old rope and hide. Together they worked with a quiet urgency, a patient readiness. The Amalj'aa were a threat, but they were a familiar threat, and the elders' response was one of habit, not lazy but practiced.

 

In short order, they would begin to transfer the contents of the tent to just outside. It would signal to the rest of the tribe who had not yet begun preparations of what was to come for the family: they would eat, bolstering their bodies, and then they would disappear.

[Xha'li Moui]

Ducking under the tent flap Kedah ran up to Xha'li and jumped on his shoulder chittering at him as she nuzzled his cheek.  Reaching up to grab her Xha'li chuckled as he moved her to his lap, scratching her under the cheek.  With a sigh he reached into the pack and pulled out to vials, offering one to K'zhumi, "Want an Ether?" He asked as he pulled out the stopper on his with his teeth and drained it in one go, face scrunching up as he swallowed, "They might taste terrible, but short of a hearty meal and a good nights sleep there's not much better for restoring your aether, and from what Kedah saw we might need all the aether we can get."

[Izmina]

K'zhumi places the last stitch in one of the deeper chest wounds, standing back tiredly to examine her handiwork. The smaller wounds had been closed, but the deeper, more serious wounds, she had painstakingly stitched. Through the haze of exhaustion setting in she spotted K'tahjha, who had finally crawled under the blanket with her aunt and fallen asleep. She smiles, gently, before realizing Li had spoken to her.

 

She turns to him, brow furrowing, and reaches for the vial. She downs it making a face and fighting the urge to spit the noxious liquid out. Frowning as she forces herself to swallow, she asks,"What do you mean? Is someone else injured?"

[Medipack]

It broke K'lyrhi's heart seeing her father so injured, and equally frustrated her that his pride wouldn't let her help him. She had expected to be scolded one last time, but the faint acknowledgement that she was part of the family caught her off guard, though had the right enough effect of reassuring her.

 

"I...I will, father." she says. She lingered a little to make sure K'yohko did not collapse as her back was turned and was preparing to follow after K'nahli when her ears picked up movement behind her. She quickly turned the face the man approaching her. His harsh voice and questioning quickly making her tense up.

 

"That's because there is one, we came across a scouting party a few malms from here." K'lyrhi answered back curtly, eying the male up and down, almost disapproving. had he not been listening? Her father's voice could well be heard from yalms from here.

 

"The name's K'lyrhi, my father's calling for the huntresses to secure the camp." she introduces herself briefly "I know not who you are, but you best quit standing around and pass the word."

[Xha'li Moui]

Xha'li looked down towards Kedah briefly at K'zhumi's question before nodding, "Quite likely, Kedah says it looked like the tribe was preparing for something, everyone was arming them selves, and their was a scent of blood that didn't belong to K'hai out in the camp."

 

Looking towards the arm in front of him Li took a breath before speaking again, "I have the aether again that I could knit the muscle back together, but not the skin.  It'd have to stay covered and in a sling for a few weeks probably."

[Kailia]

K'hai looked between the two healers, "So, am I healed enough to at least go see the elders?"

 

He was not looking forward to meeting them, given the events that happened in Ul'dah. But he would at least tell them all he knew, if they were in a mood to hear him.

[Lyraciilee]

K'yohko cast his gaze shortly back towards K'lyrhi. His initial reaction to her was unfair, he knew it was so. He could not help the way he felt on it, but instead tried to push it aside and turned his head forward and towards the healer's tent. His eyes strained ahead, blinding all other sights between him and his destination. He could not waver or change his mind, nor did his personal feeling on the subject matter any longer. All that mattered was getting patched up enough to join the others, secure the camp, and then move when possible.

 

With great effort, K'yohko pushed himself into the healer's tent and grunted. His eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness, but he could barely make out the form of K'zhumi at least.

 

His eyes trailed to the floor next, picking out K'hai's form and then slowly the details of his body. He was no longer bleeding everywhere, and that was good. He seemed to be doing much better. Spotting K'hai however, he also spotted the outsider. This earned an instantaneous scowl towards the other, but K'yohko said nothing on the matter. Finally his gaze was drawn to the sleeping figures in the corner of the tent, the figures of K'luha and Tahj. It was good to see them together again. Tahj, even awhile asleep, seemed much happier with her aunt than she had ever seen around himself. His eyes finally moved back to K'zhumi and he gave her an apologetic bow.

 

"I apologize K'zhumi. Do you have any strength left to see to my arm?" K'yohko lifted his head to see her answer, hoping he wouldn't have to completely drain her if she was already drained.

[Twinflame]

"A scouting party. And the Nunh decided to run right in and kill them, didn't he? Perfect way to leave himself hurt and helpless and lead the Amal'jaa right to us. If there is a raiding party, it's the Nunh's fault."" K'ile scoffed, marching on, moving around K'lyrhi. He remembered her now, but his anger overrode every drop of sentiment he might have otherwise been mired in. "The only person 'standing around' here is you, isn't it?"

 

K'ile followed the scent of K'yohko's blood, turning his glare on the healers' tent. The tribe's new healer.

[Izmina]

K'zhumi turns to answer Li as the broken form of the Nunh stumbles into the tent. Her eyes widen and she inhales sharply, her face tells the story of how exhausted she is after two large healing jobs, but she is instantly all business.

 

"Sit" she orders, her tone allowing no disobedience. As she turns to gather the supplies she'll need off the table, her ear flicks to LI,"Do what you can with that arm, I mist needs get started with this."

[Xha'li Moui]

"Yes Ma'am" Xha'li says quickly, doing his best to appear respectful infront of K'Yohko so as not to set off the injured mans temper.  Looking at K'hai Xha'li smiled softly and said, "This might hurt, I need to move your arm to abit before I can reconnect the muscle, and any nerves that might of been severed as well."  Digging in the pack on Kedah's back he drew out a small metal rod and held it between his fingers for a few moments before touching it to the back of K'hai's hand, "How well can you feel the heat and pressure from it?" He asked.