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OOC: ©table code and image to jacoby: Backdated to 12/30/09. Word count: 374. Worth 2 points SSWM
It was time. The medic knew it, had actually put off doing it, but it was time now. She needed to go back to Dahlia de Mai, if only for a matter of a couple months, to show off the puppy, to formalize Conor's training and get him to a level of medical training fit for the Herbalist of the pack to have, and to visit those three adorable bundles of fluff, Dexter, Keeleigh, and Vesle. Hanna had no doubts that they had doubled in size, even in only two months' time. The mother smiled down at Desiree, who smiled back up at her. Even she was getting huge in comparison to birth.
She approached the Kalona's cottage, to request Dawali's leave and also to request use of Galilahi while she was gone and to perhaps borrow a few of the herb stores, for things she had run lowest on. She didn't figure there would be much problem with Gali, since the mare was basically hers, but still, she wanted to be certain. The plants presented a slightly more difficult situation, since she was not ranked a healer. She also wanted to make sure that Dawali understood that while her body might be in Dahlia de Mai, her spirit would be with AniWaya, and that's where she would return. Unless she somehow met her end before she got a chance, she would always come back to AniWaya. It felt more like home than perhaps any pack she had been a part of before.
Hanna paused, her weight perfectly balanced, for a full moment before rapping at the simple door. Her eyes took in the features of the house. Hopefully she would catch the leader at home. "Dawali, are you in? May I speak to you?" She tried not to peer into the home from the cracks in the door, as that would be rude, but she could not help but strain her ears for any sign of life from within. While she waited, Hanna considered what she needed to do that day prior to her leaving. The obvious was to get her packs ready, but the woman knew she also needed to get a makeshift bridle ready for Gali, because they might need it.
Speak, think, act
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[html] Word Count: 477 - SoSuWriMo
come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops
A sound came at the door, and Dawali held the blanket around him tightly for a moment, and lifted his gaze from the bag he had been mending to search the air for sounds and scents that might reveal who the visitor was. Of course, only moments after the knock there rang a voice, and he smiled as he realized it was Hanna. She was one of the friendly faces that he felt had contributed to the growth of AniWaya during the last six months. He was glad that she had brought them a healthy pup, and though she had taken in the traveller Revian without asking him first he knew she had done so with good intent. She seemed intent on helping, perhaps a medic at heart. He knew she had skills in that path, and he had always thought of her as an available helping hand should they suddenly need more than one healer. Getting up, he held the blanket around him as he took few long steps towards his door. It was cold inside, and after having caught a blanket on fire not long ago he didn't dare light his hearth inside anymore, so he just kept a blanket in there to soothe his cold body and stiff joints. He did take walks if he got too cold — he knew the importance of not falling to the frost. His voice called out in response to her request as he made his way to the door, quite happy and cheerful. He always appreciated visitors. "Come on in Hanna, hang on — let me get the door..." The simple door was locked from the inside with an easy contraption he knew from his youth, when his father the carpenter had tried to teach him such skills. Few inventions had stuck to Dawali's mind, but this was one of them. It granted safety, after all, which could never be valued enough. Nimble fingers (if cold) quickly released the bolt which kept everything together, and his hand grabbed one branch of the door and pulled it inwards, opening it. Colder air from outside quickly rushed in; his body temperature had slowly heated the air inside somewhat, despite the cracks in his door. Moving his free hand as if to ask Hanna to come in, he spoke with a smile, his voice friendly but with a hint of urgency. "Come in, come in.. It's warmer in here!" At least it would be warmer in there, if Hanna would enter quickly so all the heat would not escape. Dawali turned and stepped inside to the main room of the cottage, trusting Hanna able to close the door after herself. Sitting down at one side of his table, he had found another "chair" for his guest on the other side of it. His self-made chairs were a little unstable, but they worked.
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OOC: ©table code and image to jacoby: *tries to figure out where this flood came from* Word count: 700. Worth 7 points SSWM
Hanna did as she had been bade, entering Dawali's establishment quickly and shutting the door. She was careful not to slam it, unsure it would stay together if it encountered too strong a force, and she did the clasp back, as well, both to signal to him that this was a relatively private situation, as well as to keep the door closed tightly and return it to the state it had been in before her arrival there. Turning from the portal in, she beamed at the Kalona, taking the proffered seat across from him. She did her best not to wobble as she figured out where it was uneven, and then, perched there, removed Désirée from her sling, though she kept her loosely wrapped against the cold.
The pup waved her little paws nonchalantly at Dawali, a grin and a burble at her lips. She was such a happy baby. And she was growing up so fast! Hanna sat the girl on the table where she wiggled and giggled and played. Once she was sure Desi was not going to make a break for the edge of the table, she started small talking. She had not truly talked to the tribe leader since merely a few days before her daughter's birth, at the ceremony, though she had interacted with him when they christened the baby just three days after she was born. Hanna had not been sure about that, allowing the baby to be sprinkled with icy water so soon after birth. Desi had seemed so fragile; her mother had been nearly certain that she would catch a cold or some such from it, though the child had ended up being fine, her mother's fears allayed. It was for that reason she had opted to not hold a feast. It was winter anyway, and while the tribe had stored food aplenty for the winter, she did not want to be the cause for an inordinate amount to disappear.
Several questions of little importance passed Hanna's lips. She queried on Dawali's good health; whether there had been any major goings on that he knew about that perhaps she would not have; the weather. Keeping the topic in a safe zone. Eventually though, the medic knew it was time for her to come around to the reason why she had come to visit Dawali in the first place. Her face growing somewhat serious, Hanna paused, framing the way she wanted to ask her favor in her mind. After a couple of seconds, her voice sounded. "Dawali.. It's been several months since I visited my family in Dahlia de Mai. I had been putting off travel until I was sure Désirée would do well with the trip, and I am nearly positive that she has reached that milestone." She cooed at the baby, who had looked up at the mention of her name. "If all goes well, I will be gone only three or four months, time to visit with family and friends, and to train my nephew Conor to heal, as Dahlia de Mai has been without an Herbalist for some time now. He is a bright boy, and I have no doubts that he will pick up on it quickly." She knew she did not have to mention if things went ill.
Rubbing her hand along one of the trio of scars, the woman went on. "Haku... is not fond of trespassers, and if I go merely as a visitor, I am subject to severe scrutiny and constant babysitting, which does not suit me. I know it is fair, but I want to avoid it. I think Cercelee will allow me to join the pack temporarily, take care of business, and leave with no problems once it is done. But I wanted to ask your permission to go before I took off. I also wanted to request use of Galilahi, and perhaps the borrowing of a couple herbs that I'm running low on before I got too presumptuous." When she finished, having spoken a veritable speech, Hanna knitted her fingers together, laying her hands on the table and watching her blue merle daughter play atop the table.
Speak, think, act
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[html] Word Count: 815 - SoSuWriMo
come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops
She entered and latched the door. He did not see it, but he heard it, and once she entered the room he was already sitting down at the table. The little narrow path from the door to this big room was too small for more than one person anyway. She sat, and he smiled gently at her; he would always welcome a tribesmembers into his home. They were his family, his children, in a way. He looked at Desiree, and he was glad that she was female. Some did not see the use of them except for breeding, but to Dawali the female gender symbolized something sacred in itself. They were mothers, they represented everything his faith was built upon: the family. The very symbols of fertility, life and warmth, females would never be looked upon as anything less than a blessing and a true resource in AniWaya. Males could spread their seed everywhere, certainly, but the female went through — often suffered through — pregnancies in order to provide their race with a future. Mothers would always recieve the utmost respect from Dawali Amara.
The two spoke freely for a moment, for this and that, and Dawali gaze sometimes lingered on the face of his friend, sometimes glanced to look at the child that sat atop the table. She was quite precious, but then again he was always and forever weak for puppies (especially female ones) at that age. Asha and Aiyanna had quickly learned how to prod his soft heart into the direction they wanted it to go, and this was something he could not quite let go of even now. He knew that this one was not his daughter, just as the others were not, but they seemed to trust him so easily, and he often felt as if he was a father to them all. What could a poor old male do when they stared at him with such trusting eyes? Like brave little Cambria — Dawali simply could not understand why everyone were not as easily moved by the innocence, the intensity of children. The little winter miracle that sat atop the table, too, was fiercely alive, and he envied them that.
Hanna's face was altered, and he quickly understood that here came what she had come to speak with him for. He sat in silence and listened, and it seemed to him that perhaps she was a little worried that he would be upset. But for a male who valued family above all else it was hard to say no to her mission. And Dahlia de Mai was not far. He nodded as she explained her thoughts, and when she finished he waited a moment, both to see if there was anything else she thought to say, and also to find out what he wanted to say himself. Of course, she would be allowed to go, and naturally she could take her horse with her, but the herbs.. he did not remember how much the had. Then again, he wasn't counting on encountering a war anytime soon, and seeing as no one got sick ever they probably would not need all that he had stored away. Finally nodding, he smiled politely. "Of course you can go, Hanna. And Galilehi is your own — I am not in a position to ask you to leave her behind." Some horses, when too accustomed to having only one owner, could refuse to be handled by anyone else. They were potentially dangerous, and he would not want to have her around. She could grow restless, too. Either way it was not good. "I think we have enough herbs stored, so you can take some of it with you. But make sure you don't leave too little left, especially of the rarer ones." You never knew when you needed them. Always be prepared. He thought for a moment. This Haku... she knew him, or did she know of him? She spoke of these names as if she knew all of them closely. Haku was Noir's father, Tayui had told him so in confidence once. He knew better than to seek him out and such, of course, but he could not help but be curious. Perhaps he would ask Hanna when she returned, but certainly not now. He would have to think up an excuse to ask for it as well. For now, he would return to small-talk. "So who are your relatives in Dahlia, then?" He spoke gently, simply inquiring for the sake of conversation. It could also tell him something about the bloodlines of this place. They were scattered everywhere — not like in AniWaya when you stuck with your family whether you liked them or not. It was always interesting to hear when someone explained how their relatives were spread across four different packs, and had numerous last names as well. He would probably never understand it.
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