Wondering when next to fly

Susquehanna · 01-28-2012, 04:28 AM

[html]

WC: 1001, worth 10 points in Anathema game.

Hanna's perch upon Galilahi gave her a perfect view of the festival. She had finally gathered a few things to trade - a fur here, some herbs there - and headed out with Esmerelda in tow. She had heard tell of the daily classes being held and was interested in more than one of them; she just hoped she'd have time to devote to each of the packs' lessons. The woman was constantly in search of knowledge, be it something she knew about already in part, or something brand new to file away.

Esmerelda was less enthused with the idea of attending the festival. There would be people to meet, but aside from that, the girl did not know what she was supposed to do while her mom was off doing two-legged stuff with the other shifters. Essie could not shift yet, and it was a major problem to her. She knew that as with everything she would gain the ability when she got it, but that did not sweeten the waiting, not in the slightest. So it was with a fractionally sour face that the girl perched behind her mother, rocking with Gali's not quite plodding gait as the powerful hindquarters beneath her swayed and sharing the space with her mother's large messenger bag styled satchel.

Movement caught the brown girl's eye, to the right of where they were standing. Upon first glance, the pup would have sworn there was a rabbit and a mink parading through the middle of the festival grounds along the far side of some fencing. She could see only the top part of the "quarry", however, so she could not be sure... weren't rabbits smaller than that? And what was that darker thing? Licking Hanna's cheek and motioning to where she was going to be, roughly, Esmerelda jumped from Gali's rump and began stalking her prey.

Her mid-brown fur with its darker stripe above stuck out like a sore thumb amidst the snow, but she was coming from the rear, masking her approach. She trotted at first, slowing to a walk which was about all she needed to do to keep up. Now she was closer, she saw the "rabbit's" paws were brown with darker toes, like her own. She followed a moment more, then asked, quietly, "What are you two doing?"

Meanwhile, Hanna had approached one of the stalls to barter. She introduced herself, name and rank, and chatted up the merchant, who happened to be a female by the name of Sydney. This particular merchant, the Anatheman woman found, specialized in herbs and seeds. Seeds were something Hanna had not much stocked in besides where seeds themselves were the medicine, because her tendency to move locations would prove to make cultivating the plants difficult at best and impossible at worst. Now that she was in one place, however, she felt she could afford the risk of buying seeds. She selected a pair of willow tree seeds; even if she did leave Anathema the trees would be there for Naniko or any other healer's usage. She also picked up several varieties of flowers she identified as useful both as medicine and as use for her dyeing, and a smallish pouch of salt. Then she laid her first pelt, a raccoon who'd been silvery with age and part of a packet of a plant which she did not readily see on the table, and looked to the other woman.

Sydney tilted her head from side to side, then picked up the pelt. She rubbed the fur along the grain, then against it, testing how much came loose as she did. It was not much. Then she flipped it over and examined the underside, how smooth it was and if there was any flesh left on the skin. Finally she called one of Luci's sons over for his opinion. As his mother worked skins, the boy had picked up on alot of things. He explained any blemishes he found, including a couple nicks in the skin she had not seen and a place near the tail where the coon had likely been injured and the fur was sparser -- Hanna learned from him that she could have taken some of the hair from elsewhere and sewed it in and made it look nearly perfect. Finally, the woman trader nodded, picking up the partial packet of herbs and folding the pelt to be put away. Hanna thanked the woman and backed away, tucking her buy into her satchel. As she turned away, however, Hanna's eyes fell on the wares of another of the merchants and made her pause, turn back and approach.

A small carving of a tiger rested on the table amid several necklaces and bangles. The figure, though small, reminded her of Cian. She had not seen the spirit guide for a long time. She assumed it was because she no longer lived in AniWaya, but she supposed she would not ever get a definite answer. Palming the wooden figure and picking up also a three foot line of hemp and a small geode of a delicate rose hue, of which there were several others there. She promptly extended a burnished red fox pelt to the male, who accepted it with a cursory look. If it was a steal, the male knew it might bring her back to his stall some time if she wished for one of the tooth necklaces or the like. Then Hanna turned and walked back to Gali, leading her just outside the clearing to where she could sit largely unnoticed, by a tree, and work on the project she had just given herself. The medic figured she could wait there till Esmerelda got tired of doing whatever she had wandered off to do, but she was not out of earshot if she or any other wolf needed her help with something. Accidents did happen, after all. And Essie was still fairly young, if seeming independent now. Hanna trusted her, though.

Login




Remember me Lost Password?