ooc: She's not interested in a lot of human items or keeping animals. (she'll just eat them) Perhaps beads?

If any definitive facts came from this excursion it was this; X’yrin did not under any circumstances want a horse of her own. Riding on the back of an animal that was meant to be eaten was simply torture… and what was worse was this steed’s behavior. Her mate had warned her ahead of time that the war horse had not been broken and had a mind all its own; a temperamental mind at that. But like a fool, she had underestimated the extreme of the temperament.

The majority of the trip back into the northern lands was a fight between woman and beast. Leading him along barebacked with nothing to grasp but his mane as her second mistake. The first, insisting that she needed the horse’s expediency to fulfill her service to the council woman of Aniwaya. This was the Nomad’s first official encounter with an influential face of another pack, and she would be damned to let some ill mannered beast of burden keep her from falling into her good favor. By the end of the first day, the two had managed some kind of understanding. Both stubborn and thick-headed, unwilling to succumb to the other’s commands without contest, a sort of ‘give and take’ relationship had been fashion… though it was fragile and fraying with time. How Saluce had managed to deal with this drama was beyond her realm of understanding. And when it came to this hooved beast, she did not care to understand.

By the morning of the following day, the complications of the pair were set aside for the delicate task at hand. Upon the request of the Aniwaya woman, a handful of birds needed to be caught for passing messages. To the Nomad, the means was quite strange when in her eyes it was more personal to send a messenger from the corresponding pack, but as she had time to ponder over the idea, she was beginning to favor this aerial transportation. It would be faster and a bit more inconspicuous if carrying an important message. It grew on her and motivated her task all the more.

Her accompanying owl had already taken off to survey the area, following the soft cooing of the mourning doves as they awakened to the dawn. What they needed was a cluster of birds to satisfy their purpose… and a cluster was what her determined owl found. In an instant, the woods had gone silence as the aura of the predator was felt by all that dwelled within the barren woods. Then from the stillness came an array of shrieks, frantic and alarmed as a flurry of wings filled the air and the nesting flock was aloft. From the mass swept a large speckled body, weaving in and out through the frantic birds with talons extended. Repeated, the earthbound wolf shouted for her aerial friend not to kill but to ensnare, begging that for the sake of capture his claws be blunt and careful.

It was perhaps a torturous for him as it had been for her on the back of Charlemagne, but she witnessed with relief her companion’s compliance. X’yrin stood at the ready with string unfurled for the owl to make his first delivery. He snatched through the rotating flock taking a brightly colored male as his prize before sweeping down to his awaiting handler. Since he could not hover or land, it was up to the Nomad to take the struggling bird by its foot when it was presented and hurriedly coiled a length of the string around his leg. The bird flapped in vain to escape but the woman’s hold on the string was firm. With no cage to place it in, she left the bird flap around until he finally wore out his little bird heart and settled on her shoulder, cooing mildly with exhaustion. Three more times this tactic was initiated but upon three dusky females to make a little harem for the male. As the sun reached its morning peak, their task was finished with ample time to spare.

Returning to the festival grounds was in the same manner as when she left; in a fight with the broad beast between her legs but now with a cluster of bickering birds in tow. When the hooves of the horse were not stomping the ground at break-neck speed, she had taken the time to coax the birds to listen to her voice and in turn tuned her ears to listen to their cooing as well. They were terribly simple birds adhering to only one word in the span of a couple days. Try as she may to get them to understand something other than their favored words, there was simply not enough time, but perhaps her delivery would award her an opportunity to teach her customer how to train her new items of interest.

X’yrin was all too happy to dismount from the ill tempered horse and tethered him to the cart that reside near hers and Saluce’s makeshift shop. Upon an extended arm sat a row of mildly tempered birds jerking their heads to and fro as they looked around at the strangeness of the festival all the while uttering their favorite word to ease their anxiety among so many predatory creatures. The woman had grown tired of their constant clacking since the day they were caught, and even now she found her head threatening to split upon due to the irritation. Fortunately, this brand of torture was not to be endured for much longer as her awaiting customer approached with a wave and a smile, no doubt ready to receive her new (noisy) companions. Humbly the golden she-wolf dipped her head in greeting, spilling loose auburn bangs in front of her face.

“Good day to you, Lady Ulilohi,” X’yrin greeted softly as she lifted her head. When asked about her quest the woman lifted her occupied arm to the lady’s eye level and raised her muzzle with due pride. “Prosperous. I hope you will be happy to know You have one male and three females, unharmed and in good health. However, for the purpose you have mentioned for them, I would advise that you learn to speak to them, if you have not already. At the moment they know only one word to keep them calm. If you would, please say this word as I do.” Sharply, she clicked her tongue for the bird’s attentions then brought a claw to her lips in gesture to repeat. “Safe…” The bird’s cooed responsively, repeating the same word over and over again until the claw was removed from her muzzle. “…safe.”

ooc: Sorry about that. I think I've been doing this wrong. Since they are still 'fresh' they would only speak Low Speech for the time being, but as a word was repeated they could understand it as High, if I'm getting that right. I can reference both to cover both grounds if you'd like. >.< Sorry for the confusion. Slight pp to take Uli's arm. And please go nuts with the birds. They are yours now.

The woman was quite pleased by her own work, especially with what had been done in a short duration of time. The key she would be sure to preface to the bird’s new handler was repetition above all else. A determination toward the adaptation of a single relatable word to make them easier to handle. As Uli repeated the word, the Nomad smiled proudly as the birds responded as she had hoped. While their cooing was considered incoherent noise to many, she could understand it as another form of communication nearly lost to the untrained ear. And it was a communication she had every intention of sharing with her customer.

With her unoccupied hand, she cautiously reached out to take the lady’s arm and extended it fully with only a subtle bend at the elbow. Trusting the arm would be kept in place, she again gestured to the birds by touching her nose and uttered their promise of security even to this new perch. “It will take time,” she addressed the lady kindly. “But soon you wont have to remind them that they are safe. It will come instinctually as they become more used to you. And I can at least start you on this path.” As she spoke, X’yrin continued to gesture from her nose to the arm, repeating the motion until the bold male finally fluttered from one arm to another and made himself comfortable on the dark extended arm. The remaining pigeons were not as brave and remained clutching the Nomad’s arm but continued to watch the male as he skirted along the arm. X’yrin smiled at this, believing this motion alone was a sign of progress.

“It is best that you make a gesture for them to understand,” she explained then made the motion of touching her nose to the lady’s arm. “They are not very smart, but can pick up just enough to make a decision of what is safe and what is not, or where to or where not to go. I advice only one gesture at a time until you can make desperate gestures for each of them to correspond to where you would like them to go. But for now… try indicating a safe place. Make the gesture”- she brought a claw to her nose- “then set a place for them to sit while repeating their safe word as I told you. There is no rush, so please, take your time.”