Heinous Omens [K-Tribe]

[Izmina]

K'zhumi smiles and reaches for a cloth and clear fluid, cleaning the wound on K'nahli's forehead thoroughly. She then applies an ointment into the small laceration,"This will help it's healing and numb it a slight bit. I'll let that work while I clean these other wounds." She turns her attention to the scrapes and cuts on the huntress' arms and legs, cleaning them gently but fully. "Now a couple of stitches and you'll be free to return to your tent to rest." Zhumi begins to place small, neat stitches into the forehead laceration.

[K'nahli]

K'nahli watched in silence as K'zhumi got to work with cleaning and tending to her wounds. It was like that for a while, with only K'zhumi's occasional narration of what she was doing, presumably in an attempt to educate and calm the girl, intermittently breaking the silence. The cuts themselves did not come without their own discomfort, especially so when they were applied with disinfectants and the like, but on their own they weren't bothersome enough to make the girl so much as flinch. She was no stranger to injury in her youthful days and since then she had proven herself to be rather resilient to it's effects. Had K'zhumi much of a memory when it came to each of her patients' visits then at least she might have recognised that K'nahli's obvious difficulty with her wounded hip was far beyond that of mere exaggeration.

 

Before K'nahli had realised it, K'zhumi had already returned to tending the hidden cut across her forehead, noting that there was far less room for evading eye contact now that the healer had naturally moved much closer to her. She blinked a couple of times idly as her eyes silently sought a non-existant refuge anywhere about her.

Perhaps... she should try to make a little conversation, she thought. She didn't want to refute the woman's kindness after all.

 

Hardly a moment had passed by since that thought when something had caught the girl's attention.

 

"....?"

 

Now that the pair had been forced into rather close proximity, K'nahli noticed a familiar scent emanating from the healer. Though it did all but make her flinch with hesitation, the girl sought to make use of it. It wasn't as though she had anything else to really talk about. Small talk was not exactly her strong point, after all.

"Were you checking up on my father just now? I had assumed that he was back to full health... more or less..." she inquired naively with a forced, neutral tone - choosing to ask as she moved to avoid direct eye contact once again.

[Izmina]

K'zhumi, pauses in her stitching to look at K'nahli, struggling to keep her face straight and the blush off her cheeks. "I did visit the Nuhn's tent not long ago. I wanted to be sure he was fully healed. That was a nasty wound." Hoping the huntress would drop the matter, K'zhumi goes back to attending the cut.

[K'nahli]

"Oh..." K'nahli replied simply, noting the woman's off subtleties but thinking little of them.

 

"Then... he is alright?" she followed up in an effort to say at least a little more, though also as part of her genuine concern.

[Izmina]

K'zhumi pauses once more a smile curving her lips,"The wounds have healed very well, some of the muscles still need stretching and strengthening, but everything is in working order." she smirks to herself as she goes back to work on that cut.

[K'nahli]

"I see..." K'nahli replied solemnly, her gaze remaining anywhere but the healer's eyes.

 

Fidgeting on the spot slightly, the girl battled with a thought that had been wandering through her mind since bringing up her father in conversation. It was a embarrassing to just come out and say, at least for K'nahli... well, probably only for K'nahli, but at the same time it was something that in the end she somehow knew she couldn't leave without saying, despite everything else that has happened.

 

"K'zhumi, I.... well, for my father...." the girl stumbled as she struggled to form a proper sentence. A very faint blush seemed roll across her cheeks in the short pause that followed in which she tried to compose her clumsy murmurings.

 

"Th-Thank you for taking care of him...".

[Izmina]

K'zhumi smiles gently at K'nahli, reaching to smooth the girl's bangs back down over the now stitched cut. "You're more than welcome. Anytime you need anything, you're welcome to visit my tent." She turns to her supplies wiping her hands and putting things back in their place.  She places a thick ointment into a small container, offering it to K'nahli. "Work this into the sore area twice a sun until the bruising goes away. I'd like you to rest tomorrow, let one of your sisters do your chores. Do you have any other questions?"

[K'nahli]

The girl hesitated a moment before reluctantly accepting the container. Relieving herself of her chores? That.... was not something that girl wanted, not in the slightest.

 

"But.... were it that I could prepare food instead, or anything that does not require much movement..? Surely that would be acceptable..?" the girl asked anxiously, focusing her gaze on K'zhumi intently as she awaited an answer.

[Izmina]

K'zhumi looks at K'nahli with a hint of amusement, "You have a good work ethic. Yes, if you can cook, work hides, or some such, it will be fine. If that is still sore in the next day or two, you come and visit me. Okay?"

[K'nahli]

K'nahli allowed a gentle though somehow clumsy smile to force it's way on to her lips. Work ethic? In truth she didn't know how she could wish for a day free of duties. Aside from the guilt of forcing her own tasks upon her siblings for her own bumblings, she'd only quickly find herself growing bored from the lack of activity. After all, it wasn't as though she could live out a day of leisure to her heart's content in this state either.

 

K'nahli nodded simply in response and carefully returned to her feet. Making her way to the exit of the tent, the girl paused a moment and glanced back over her shoulder. K'zhumi herself was not looking at that moment as she busied herself with clearing up her medical supplies. A natural compulsion to thank the woman and bid her goodnight wavered over K'nahli's mind, but unlike before, now that she lacked the intimacy of proximity, the girl was stung by a shy sense of reluctance. Though it was in that moment that K'zhumi, turning around now, met with K'nahli's lingering stare. The girl flinched slightly, embarrassed for having been caught but after a moment the girl offered a departing nod, accompanied be another small, returning smile before slipping through the tent flaps and out into the darkness.

 

The chocobo that had led her home remained outside not too far away, finding interest in a small patch of grass by a cluster of rocks which it had since commenced munching on. K'nahli watched it with innocent contentment before approaching the bird.

 

"C'mon girl, let's bring you back..." the girl whispered comfortingly as she tugged free a large, lump of grass from the ground before securing the animal by it's reins and proceeding to lead her back toward it's pen. The archer's limp persisted, but simply walking had at least proven to not be quite as painful now that she had some time to take the weight off of her legs. She watched the chocobo closely as it continued to much on the grass that remained in it's beak while she quietly led it forward through the camp, smiling with amusement as it did so. There was such a warming innocence to be found in the animals, unlike any of those native to the sands.

 

"It must be nicer when it's fresh and green" she spoke quietly to the bird while feeding it some more of the grass she had collected in her hand, earning herself an approving and happy chirp in the process.

[Lyraciilee]

K'iara watched the huntresses as they slowly began the trek back to camp, kills in towe. Her eyes glanced back along the horizon, her nose picking up a familiar scent on the breeze. She turned away, hooking her axe securely onto her hip before moving out away from the others...

 

The Tia moved almost silently in the night. Somewhere near what looked like a small pond –a surprising sight after his days in Sagolii-, his eyes spotted a single beast under the moon. It was the same kind the huntresses had been fighting, looking deceptively harmless as it drank water. K’rahto hid behind a rock and took a moment to observe his prey. Soon, it’d be his to claim.

 

K'iara had followed the all too familiar scent of her brother through the strange terrain, as if she were hunting another animal of prey. Tonight it seemed, her foolish tia brother would be that prey indeed. She stalked through the soft dirt, pausing every so often to check the dirt for his prints. They were not yet used to this terrain, and prints seemed to linger everywhere one looked. K'iara made her way towards the top of a small craggy boulder and perched herself there, glimmering blue eyes scanning the horizon. She spotted a thin shadowed form in the moonlight glow and growled deeply in her throat. "K'rahto..." she grumbled to herself, gently descending from the boulder.

 

“…?!”

 

The sound of that voice didn't fail to startle him, albeit he managed to prevent himself from making any alarming noise. With a frown and the beginning of cold sweat in his forehead, K’rahto slowly turned his head to the approaching figure. K’iara… Even in the darkness, he could still see the look in her eyes.

 

“Why did you follow me?” He muttered with annoyance, barely raising his voice. He was alert in her presence, that much was clear from the way he stared at her every movement.

 

K'iara's ears twitched faintly as she stepped lightly across the dirt, closing the gap between them. Her expression was angry, even her eyes seemed to burn with anger towards her brother. "Why do you think? We don't hunt alone, brother." she spat back at him, hissing ever so slightly with every word.

 

“I’m not one of your huntresses!” He replied, and this time his voice was loud enough for the beast to notice. The animal raised its head quickly at the sound, and wasted no time to start running away, much to K’rahto’s dismay. “W-wait…!”

 

It was too late now. He’d never run as fast if he tried. A heavy and frustrated exhalation escaped his lips then. "It could have been mine..."

 

"You're my brother! You're part of the tribe! Huntress or no!" K'iara hissed back, stepping forward sharply and grasping at his arm in an effort to yank him towards her. "K'yohko plays by the same rules, and the time he hunted alone he came back with his arm half fallen off and a burned torso. If you hunted sanddrakes along, you would have just died." K'iara hissed furiously at her brother again.

 

No matter how well K’iara meant, her words were nothing short of aggravating. Even when she grabbed his arm, K’rahto wouldn’t look at her. He’d just turn his head to the ground with a frustrated frown, fists tightening. The memory of K’nahli’s eyes lingered. It always did.

 

“I can’t be like any of you,” he said, his tone restrained. “If the Nunh can’t hunt alone, then I must prove that I can. Otherwise…” The sentence was left unfinished.

 

"You'll die." K'iara hissed in return, yanking hard on his arm again. "You're not K'yohko. You're never going to be him by running off to do stupid shit. And what was that with K'nahli huh? Thought you would just take her for yourself out here to be closer to K'yohko?"

 

“I didn’t touch her!” If K’iara wanted a reaction, she only needed to mention K’nahli. K’rahto’s head turned to her quickly as he yelled, eyes burning. At that moment, he even had difficulty understanding everything his sister was saying; all he could hear from her lips was ‘she’ll never be yours. You’ll never be Nunh’.

 

"Then why were you on top of her!?" K'iara hissed back, pushing at her brother to knock him over. Violent against tribe members was forbidden, but that didn't mean she couldn't rough him up a bit.

 

K’rahto felt his back impacting against the rock behind him as K’iara pushed him. His eyes closed tightly for a second, before an aggressive glare escaped from them again. That was all he could do, for K’iara had always been stronger than him. It was lucky that she wasn’t a Tia, really.

 

“She was the one who pu—!!“ He trailed off. “We just fell, alright?! It was an accident!! You can’t truly believe that I’d do anything to her…!”

 

Was K’iara actually accusing him of breaking the rules with a huntress? The irony was certainly bitter; if only he was brave enough to do that, perhaps things would have been better.

 

K'iara narrowed her gaze as her brother was blushed back uncomfortably into the rocky cragg. She stepped forward, her fists clenched tightly. She supposed she could believe they only fell, but for K'rahto to run off afterwards so quickly?

 

"You don't hunt alone." she insisted angrily again.

 

The Tia growled from the depths of his throat, before his head turned down to the side once more. Anger and frustration coloured his eyes, but he said nothing more. Nothing at all, as if unwillingly yet submissively accepting his sister’s command. He was still part of the tribe, and its rules were his.

 

K'iara found relief in his lack of a response. She stepped forward to more gently rest a hand on his shoulder. "Come on. We should return before they start the challenge."

 

With no other choice, the always humiliated Tia followed his sister. His eyes still refused to look at her, his mind full of voiceless thoughts. The Nunh would be challenged that night and new rules might emerge from the result of that fight. If K’yle Tia won, then…

 

The huntresses had arrived long before K'iara and K'rahto. They moved quickly, celebrating their kills with loud cries of victory before they laid them out along the bonfire's light for the others to inspect. Large thick beasts with tough hides would make good clothing, blankets, and tents from the weather. K'iara slunk in along the back, a close eye on K'rahto as they entered the camp. She let him go where he pleased, instead joining the rest of the huntresses to grin in excitement at their success.

[Izmina]

K'tahjha hung away from huntresses and watched. She hadn't particpated in the kills as she was there only to observe. Still her eyes were filled with excitement, the hunt itself had been amazing to watch and she was hopeful she would be allowed to take her trial soon and join the next hunt. Eventually her thoughts turned to her sister and how badly she had been injured. With a last look at the large beasts proudly displayed by the fire Tahj slips off to seek K'nahli.

 

In her tent, K'zhumi has cleaned herself thoroughly, and was donning her finest robes and putting on ceremonial jewelery. Finally she braids charms and other trinkets into her long hair and heads for the fire.

[Naunet]

K'deiki had taken her leave of the cooking silently after a time, leaving K'ile and Li to bond on their own. She smiled to herself as she shuffled her way to the Elders' tent. That Tia was right about one thing - even if he didn't win and had no real chance of winning this challenge, the simple act of it would lift the spirits of her family, give them a sense of normalcy. The challenge of Tia to Nunh had in history been a time of celebrating their family's strengths, of emboldening the youth and securing a powerful future. It was not something that Nunhs dreaded, but rather embraced as an opportunity to demonstrate their worthiness and love for family. This could be healing for them all and a time to show their newest family members the soul of the Hipparion tribe.

 

And no one had ever minded the feast and show, least of all K'deiki.

 

K'jhanhi and K'takka greeted her in their own ways when she returned to their tent. They both had begun preparations of their own for the challenge - it was tradition for the elders to give blessing to the fight after the display of the feast, as an acknowledgment of the mutual benefit such challenges brought to the tribe. K'yohko and K'ile would both receive the blessings of the elders and the spirits to strengthen and steel them for the struggle.

 

Collecting and preparing the necessary materials - a paste of herbs used to paint the faces of the fighters, a string of bone beads used in prayer, the ceremonial shawls all three of the elders would wear - was an amicable activity for the three of them. When they all exited the tent, even K'takka looked a bit stronger than before and there was some energy to K'jhanhi's stiff steps. They greeted huntresses who passed, the young women paying brief but sincere respects before hurrying off to prepare themselves.

 

The bonfire flickered and stretched towards the stars as the elders approached to await the Nunh and his challenger.

[Twinflame]

"The huntresses are already back. We took too long." K'ile spat this like an accusation at K'li, even though the delay was probably more credit to the Yohko and Luha pulling at his attention. But would K'ile blame himself for letting himself get distracted by them? Not with K'lie around and so convenient to complain at. K'ile tossed the lids on the clay vessels full of cooked meat, then threw a lid at K'li. "You get the salted meat. Come on, K'li Tia."

 

K'ile hefted one of the vessel's in each arm, lifting them high on his shoulders and turning to exit the tent. As he stepped out, the red light of the bonfire caught in his blue eyes. He stopped as he caught the scent of fresh kills, fresh fire, and huntresses whose bodies were full of fire and adrenaline. If tradition held, more than one huntresses would be hungry for the Nunh after a hunt, and moreso after a challenge.

 

The joke was that to survive the challenge was easy. Surviving the rest of the night was another thing.

 

The scent and the firelight reminded K'ile of nights years-past, watching the late K'thalen Nunh toy with lesser challengers before a raucous crowed of hundreds of Hipparion. He recalled feasts that lasted for two days straight, when two Nunh took two challenges on two evenings. He recalled great dances that had lit entire nights, five fire dancers moving in alternating circles for hours on end.

 

K'ile didn't wait. The throbbing headache of his concussion still pulsed behind his ears, but he barely felt it as he trotted forward and shouted to the gathered huntresses. "Hey! Someone drag K'yohko out here! If he wants to call himself Nunh he's going to have to earn it tonight!" The red firelight flicked off K'ile's sweat as though he himself were aflame, the darker dirt of their new home sticking to him like smoke in the sky.

 

Heads glanced up from him from the hunt's kills. These were the beasts that K'luha and he had spotted when they were scouting out this land for the tribe. It seemed so strange now, that what they had discussed then had actually happened. The entire tribe had come, and the bounty was just as great as they'd hoped it would be then. Maybe K'luha was right when they'd spoken earlier. Maybe now was the time to multiply and fill the tribe with kids.

 

"There's more in the meat tent!" K'ile shouted, hefting the clay vessels in his arms. He didn't have to say more than that. A handful of huntresses stepped away from the fire and the carcasses to get the dozen other vessels that K'ile and K'li had filled with food. K'ile set the vessels off to the side of the fire, leaving a wide swath of space available close to the fire where he and K'yohko would fight.

 

Once the meat was on the ground, he waved to the Elders to get their attention. He saw them adorned in the ritual garb of the challenge, something he hadn't seen in years. There was a different mood about them. K'deiki stood with a strength that she'd lacked even when he'd seen her an hour earlier last night.

 

K'ile barely noticed this before he turned away and shouted out over the sound of the crackling fire. "K'luha! Hey, where are you?"

[K'nahli]

A thin strip of light illuminated part of the girl's face as she subtly parted the tent flaps. It seemed that everyone else had made it back in one piece at last. She almost could have sighed.

In a cruel way, the girl had, in part, hoped that someone else would have sustained wounds of their own so that she might justify 'her' injury more easily. Though from what she could tell, that was not the case.

 

A sudden, shooting pain caused the girl to quickly wince and moan softly in discomfort. Her gaze shifted away from the world outside to observe as a tender hand reached down to try and soothe the discomfort - for the little it would help. After a moment, her eyes were then guided away from her wound and back out through the slit in the tent as the laughter and excitement that followed the returning huntresses continued to feed the growing atmosphere about the camp.

 

K'nahli clutched a weak fist over her chest as her heart was felt to drum to an irregular rhythm. She didn't doubt her father's ability to succeed over anyone, especially the likes of K'ile - but that was not enough to stow her lingering sense of anxiety for the coming challenge ahead.

In the end, she didn't create the chance to go and speak to the tia as she should have; though each time she would scold herself with that thought she would only once again, remind herself that having him show up now on his own terms, for whatever reason, would be just as unfavourable.

 

Simply standing there by the entrance had become painful once more, though she favoured it above simply resting on her bed as she had already vainly attempted until now.

[Izmina]

Having been unsuccessful in locating her sister, wandering about the camp and not knowing her tent position in the new area, K'tahjha reluctantly goes back towards the fire. She skirts the edge of the area keeping as far from the flames as she can. She scans the gathering crowd, hoping to see her aunt or K'iara, she didn't know if she was allowed to eat the food, but her stomach growls hungrily. She frowns briefly at K'ile's announcement. Surely this was a joke or just for entertainment, she didn't want to see either getting hurt.

 

K'zhumi glides into the fire circle, adorned in her ceremonial gear, the trinkets and jewelery sparkling and glowing in the firelight. She scowls, there was no way that Tia would be K'yohko in a fair challenge, but for sure her services would be needed before morning.

[Lyraciilee]

K'yohko's ears flicked with the sound of the returning huntresses. The grass and the wind spoke of a mostly successful hunt. But there was something else now that drew the Nunh's attention. He breathed out softly as K'ile's ringing words reached his ears. How long had it been since the last challenge? Five years? Six years? And of all the people to challenge him, it had to be K'ile Tia. He remembered their conversation from earlier, and shook his head. He supposed he owed the man the fight.

 

His broad heavy form stood slowly and slipped out from his tent, moving silently across the new terrain to stand at the light of the fire's edge. His eyes watched K'ile closely, not announcing his presence or giving any weight to his challenge yet.

 

K'luha remained by her tent, lamenting over her possible missed opportunity. Her hip ached faintly from all the standing, but otherwise she felt a bit better than she had in some time. Her ears perked with the return of the huntresses, and she picked herself up to quickly trot over to the fire light. The kills were bountiful, and the girls mostly unharmed. It was a good hunt. K'luha only wished she could have hunted as well.

 

Her head turned towards a familiar dancing flame as it called her name and gave a short smirk.

 

"Right here K'ile." she answered smoothly, stepping forward when she noticed Tahj. "Tahja, come here." K'luha called again, waving her adopted daughter over.

[Izmina]

K'tahjha's ears perk at the sound of her name, she smiles brightly as she skirts the area of light around the bonfire, trying  not to look at it. As she reaches K'luha she reaches to give her a hug, she's excited to tell her about the hunt, but doesn't want to interrupt the adult's conversation. "Hey K'ile, you really going to fight my papa?"

[K'nahli]

K'nahli's eyes suddenly flared at the sight of her father taking a spot just within view of her tent. The glow of the fire glazed brilliantly across his large figure, canvassing it with a soft, amber tint that painted faint shadows over his exposed skin, emphasising his body's every contour. Despite not being as young as one would typically expect of a nunh, his apparent strength was indisputable and age would appear to be no more successful a challenger to his fortitude than any of the countless tias whom had fallen in submission before his sword in the years prior.

 

It really had been a while.... a lot of time spent away from true, practice against a non-beast.

 

A lump formed in the girl's throat as the weight of the challenge suddenly felt more real. Though she retained a lot of respect for powerful hunters, the title itself didn't hold a lot of worth in the girl's eyes. Rather, it was the prospect of what the future held for a certain other miqo'te should K'yohko somehow be dethroned.

 

("Maybe I should make my way out...") the girl thought to herself after dwelling on the thought for what felt like several minutes.

 

Taking a seemingly, aimless glance about her tent beforehand, the girl carefully slipped out into the night air.

[Twinflame]

"I don't know if fight's the right word for it." K'ile trotted away from where he'd placed the meat, taking a glance over his shoulder at the other vessels being put near it. There had to be more than enough to fill the stomach of everyone in the tribe.

 

Tahj and Luha stole his attention more greedily than the food, however. It was right, seeing them together. And Tahj with firelight on her face, not running off into the shadows. He gave them a smile. "I'm going to retire the old man as gently as he'll let me. No reason to be mean about it."

[Clover]

K'mih was among the huntresses who gathered near the fire, at a certain distance from the Tia who dared to challenge the Nunh that night. A new life, some would say. And it was, but K'mih wanted to believe that the new land would know of no other Nunh than her father for several more years. Her mother was beside her, half a gentle smile drawn in her lips.

 

"K'mih," the woman called her daughter softly, having noticed how tense the girl looked. "Who will your heart support in tonight's battle?"

 

The surprise in K'mih's eyes betrayed her emotions, before she turned her head back to the front and lowered it.

 

"I'm not ready... for a Nunh..." she confessed. Her mother nodded and turned her gaze to the brave Tia, still smiling. Perhaps it was her pride as one of K'yohko's companions what made her speak the next words, but she sounded certain of them.

 

"K'ile is older and less experienced than K'yohko. If he is to become Nunh, it won't be tonight."

 

As soon as the woman finished that sentence, the silent yet imposing presence of the Nunh caught the younger female's attention. Bicolour eyes glued themselves to him, unable to blink. She could barely breath at that moment.

 

=======================

 

K'rahto tended to position himself away from the group, but not tonight. Tonight, he needed to watch closely. From his spot near the fire, he stared at K'ile as they all waited, arms crossed and darkened eyes. Whatever trick the man had prepared to obtain a victory against a younger and apparently stronger Nunh, he was eager to know.