A time for hunting.. - Samheen 27th (Late MT) - Niamh

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Wed May 31, 2006 7:50 pm

After the morning's adventures and Oni's unfathomable rebuke, Niamh emerged from her tent relieved to find herself alone, but for the bow slung over one shoulder and the quiver dangling from her belt. Impulsively, she ducked behind the hide-stretched walls, and picked her way up into the tree-line, footsteps quick and sure in familar territory even as her toes attempted to evade anything that would betray her passage with sound or mark. Her steps skirted branches in favor of needles and leaves, but skirted those in favor of rocks or large tree roots she could use as stepstones without leaving a trace of her presence. All this fuss has the Hooters all aflutter, if I'd but known I was expected to provide the meat for our meal, I could've done so without all that wasted time this morning...

The path her feet so carefully wove, an excercise as much as a challenge to the slower kits who might follow, would eventually lead her deeper within the depths of Gnilwoh. She paused briefly once within the shielding branches, enjoying the cool dampness of the forest's lush and loamy air.

I'll trace the stream first, came the slow thought, her eyes flicking about the trees, her ears focusing intently on the sounds around her. The stream she had in mind trickled through the forest, a favorite watering ground for the wild creatures which were her prey.... though with my luck, they sated their thirsts at dawn... and there may be nothing much to find before nightfall... Even as she moved onwards, her goal established, her thoughts continued to seek out other likely places, her dark and yellow eyes watching for signs of other creatures upon the ground before her.

Brytan · Post by **Brytan** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 5:45 pm

Samheen 27th - Late Morningtide

Niamh entered the forest which breathed some peace after the early Morningtide's exitement. Gnilwoh forest was the only piece of forest on the island which was large enough to bear the title, and one of the places where the Kanthrop got their food. The trees swayed in a late morningtide breeze, the sun climbing to it's peak. It would be tradetide soon.

Birds fluttered about their business in the branches high above the trail Niamh followed. The occasional rabbit shot across and away to hide in the shrubs, sometimes noticing Niamh only at the last moment as she crept through the forest at quite a pace. Kanthrop were naturally adapted to the forest and the forest to them, or so it sometimes seemed as they blended seemlessly into their environs. It took a true master however to attain the status of master hunter among their small community, a title which only a few now carried. The mysterious Oni Swifttalon being one of them.

But now, among the trees and shrubs her attention was on the trail, which soon led to the stream feeding into several larger ponds deeper down the forest. It flowed from the Skymyst mountains south as a river, going partly underground somewhere at the northern edge of Gnilwoh, only to appear every now and again, sprouting small brooks and creeks as it made it's way to the depths of Paw Lake.

Niamh reached a larger clearing, containing the same brook she had been trailing for some time. The ground was cracked, the tremors having left their marks upon the pristine forest even. A large crevice centering in the clearing. Inspecting the ground as she went, Niamh found some tracks, perhaps a mark or two old, on the ground leading to the crevice before her, and then away again leading further north into the woods. Tracks of another hunter. Some animal tracks, clearly much older than these fresh ones, trailed off to the northwest.

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Fri Jun 02, 2006 5:58 pm

Though she cast her senses wide, the kit found herself at ease beneath the sheltering forest canopy, more at ease beneath the familiar boughs than she had upon the bare cliff earlier that morning. Her swift movements took advantage of the forest noises to cover her own scufflings, and she took care to duck around outspread branches and twigs, both in respect for the growing forest around her and a desire to remain silent.

A sense of accomplishment accompanied her arrival in the clearing, for despite Oni's chastisements, she really had been an astute pupil. The skills that drew her this far she had gained from watching the master hunter. Perhaps someday soon, when I can pass beyond our walls.. I will come to be a Master of the hunting masters.

Arriving along the clearing's edge, she hovered a moment midst the leaves, eyes skimming the area quietly before she emerged into it's emptiness. The water gurgled lightly along the rockbed, a trickling laughter that masked the faint sounds useful to a hunter. But it also provides cover for my own movements, a worthy trade if I can stay downwind of whatever creature I seek. 

Stepping carefully, she paced the clearing, eyes focused on the tracks details. Curious, she prowled alongside the hunter's steps, approaching the crevice to investigate what might have interested the other hunter. With no others to observe or judge, she lost much of her reckless and impish nature - her thoughts focusing on the task at hand... the better to allow time for later play.

Wetting her lips, she paused while examining the crevice, her face turning slightly one way and another as she sought to determine whether she would be upwind or downwind of the animal tracks. Breathing deeply, her nostrils flared as she attempted to identify the various scents, attempting to identify what creatures had been in the vicinity (droppings were often the most pungent of signs) and most specifically, what might claim the older tracks.

Niamh's blood quickened ever so slightly in her veins, excitement building as she settled into the role of the hunter, unaware of the predatory thoughts lent by the spirit within.

Brytan · Post by **Brytan** » Sun Jun 04, 2006 6:17 pm

The forest breathed around Niamh, the wind brushing through the branches, small animals rustling through the underbrush. The sound of the water trickling through the small brook was soothing to the hunting spirit which raised it's head inside Niamh. Still it lingered, focussing her senses to the task at hand.

The tracks on the ground were mostly small game. Some rabbits perhaps, maybe a raccoon or a squirrel. As she moved towards the crevice, nearer to the water, a few tracks of a larger animal were visible in the soft earth, though worn away and older than the rest. A deer or a boar perhaps.

The crevice turned out to be just that, a narrow, deep, dark hole in the ground. Peering into it, Niamh could see not much more than darkness. No sounds or scents reached her alert senses from the depths, the bottom not visible even in the light of the sun now nearing it's peak.

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Mon Jun 05, 2006 7:14 pm

Dismissing the crevice as anything but a landmark, Niamh felt a twinge of relief that the breeze was neither strong enough or consistent enough to betray her presence clearly to whatever prey she sought.

The forest breathed, and Niamh breathed with it, unconciously accepting the heightened senses offered by her counterpart. Though old, perhaps I'll come across a more frequently used track... and with that thought, she began to settle into the hunt, focusing on senses and instinct rather than thought as her feet picked their way along. She spent less effort to disguise her footsteps here, and sacrificed complete silence for a little extra speed. Even then, she paused occasionally, her eyes tracing the ground for fresher hoofprints or signs of passage, leaves that had been nibbled or hanging twigs that revealed the passage of the creature she tracked. She passed by the small tracks, pursuing the split hooved ones of the larger beasts.

Niamh would be content to continue in this way, patiently, for a long period of time, turning aside for any fresher tracks or obvious signs of larger beasts.

Brytan · Post by **Brytan** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 6:33 pm

The elements were with Niamh as the hunt became reality. Only half a mark had passed until she found some fresh tracks in the wind and the earth. A boar had passed this way perhaps a mark or so ago and the game was afoot. The animal inside her smelled blood and pushed at the edge of Niamh's senses, searching anxiously for control and dominance. Filling her head with thoughts of bloodlust and joy.

The forest grew darker, the trees were closer together here. Niamh followed the trail into the heart of the forest. Along the edges of her hearing she thought she heard the faint sounds of a drum, but her Inner Animal was focussing all of it's attention on the hunt.

It would take some good persuading to make it do otherwise.

Some burns later she came upon an empty space, rocks and sand covered the area here. Several trees had toppled over, their roots facing the sky, their mighty branches covering the trail Niamh was following. Between the branches a small burrow or opening was visible, darkness flithering and moving withing. Grunts and hooves somewhere nearby.

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Wed Jun 07, 2006 11:20 pm

Time lost any meaning beneath the verdant spread of forest greenery as Niamh began stalking the Boar's trail, her senses alert and seeming to take a life of their own. As she drew farther along the trail and theoretically closer to her quarry, instinct battered with thoughts numbed as her body seemed to sweep forward of its own accord.

You are useful, but you do not own me... Though the spirit rising within her was a sign of her steps into full Kantrhop adult-hood, she defied the idea of giving it precedence before herself. A small part of her struggled against that push for control, defying the joy with reason. Time enough after the creature falls beneath my bow, there is nothing for joy just yet... The inner battle one Niamh was becoming more adept at winning, yet it occupied more of her attention - the drums didn't pierce her focus, and other sounds and movement beyond that of her Prey were also beginning to fade. Niamh had no desire or need to turn aside her spirit's eagerness from it's course, instead she focused it, controlling it by allowing it to do as it wished - yet with her boundaries strictly in place.

As she reached a small clearing, her steps became careful and cautiously chosen, her head twitching alertly from side to side as her eyes attempted to pierce the depths of the burrow as well as the foliage about her. What is the first attempt a boar might make? To charge and defend it's den.

Looking up into the branches about her, she heeded a prompting of the animal within. Height, to pounce. Dive upon it unseen. Shaking her head at the sudden ideas, she adjusted the bow over one shoulder and took a step or two back, considering each movement carefully, despite the impulses suggested by instinct. Carefully stretching her hands up and to the side, she gently grasped branches, testing them for stability, moving carefully back away from the den to other trees in the same manner until she found something acceptable. It wouldn't take much height to avoid a boar's dangerous tusks.

If there was something worthy of her weight, she would begin an ascent with fingertips seeking appropriate holds, using familiar muscles to lift herself and twist a leg over the nearest branch. To scrabble with her feet would be too revealing, and Niamh enjoyed the strange convolutions it took to strain and stretch her body upwards. A faint tremble skittered down her spine as she lifted herself into the air, her memories of the morning's adventure still fresh, but the animal within was too focused on doing to let her ponder more than a flicker. Her ears sought to pinpoint if the rustling she heard was only from within the den... or if she had another to deal with as well.

Brytan · Post by **Brytan** » Sun Jun 11, 2006 11:18 am

The sun moved in the sky as it had done for countless ages. Peering over the empires in the east, gazing out late during the day over the shores of the western kingdoms, passing the mysterious Seven Isles on it's way. It had seen countless things. Wars waged, peace treaties signed. Beaming in through windows untold it had lit up countless rooms where people slept, waking them to the task at hand. It had made countless couples happy as it disappeared behind the horizon to lend them the shadows which followed for them to ensue in their courtship and love making.

This day was different however, the lands were not as they were. For countless yahren had it passed over the island floating peacefully close to the clouds. It had watched generations of Kanthrop grow up and leave as they came of age, it had even seen the first generation come to the island and most likely only the sun knew their most prized secrets, having witnessed them first hand. But now, as the sun rose up to it's highest point it could see change in the making. The island which had hovered peacefully below him, above the mystical island of Pan had now sunk down, veering off heavily to the western shores of the island below, dropping segments off it's hard rocky outer shell as it tumbled into the depths.

The sun was the onlooker of the most tragic of events and the most blissfull. Now, it watched the kanthrop on their island prepare for the festival of their most recent generation of kit to be awakened. It watched Niamh stalk the boar the sun had seen slip into it's den but burns earlier. It watched Ardal make his way through the forest, browsing the plantlife as if shopping a market square for the proper herbs. It watched Eidolon and Catherine go about their assigned chores around the village. The sun watched the drums in the village roll, a warning for what was about to happen for all those on the island.

But it was too late...

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

A deep rumble gripped the island, shaking it's foundations to the core. Beyond any tremor the kanthrop had felt before. Wildlife wimpered and hid. Birds flew up from their nests. The drums in the village went silent as the deep ominous terror shook the very core of the stone mass making up the flying isle.

BWAM!!!

A terrible noise, like an explosion of rock gripped the entire isle as it impacted on the island below. Splicing the waters around the coast of Pan's Isle in a massive tidal wave, drilling it's pointed edge into the ground making up the pristine western shores. The island shook, cracked and broke. Everywhere enormous shards of rock shot up from the ground like needles being stuck upward through a pincushion, the ground spliced and ruptured as the mountains on the eastern border of the isle crumbled and disappeared in massive clouds of dust and gravel. The pressure from the collapse swept the dust upward in a vortex of sand, sweeping over Ursa Etheria like a cover, a blanket of destruction.

Everywhere trees fell as the surface of the island sank and rose at will, like the ripples of the ocean would swallow a swimmer so were trees, animals and kanthrop alike engulfed in an ocean of rock and insanity. The four kit felt their Inner Animals surge within them, not in anger but in a massive panic attack. All their instincts shouted "RUN", but there was no where to go. The village of tents and cabins crumbled before the eyes of their onlookers, the forest screamed and the fields wept as all were torn asunder in a terrible rage of sound and dust.

The Etherial Isle was no longer Etherial...

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:52 pm

Niamh was halfway up the tree when the first deafening thunder hit. Confusion. Panic. Feelings welled up as terror took hold, her grip on the branches loosening in fear, though she rolled as she tumbled towards the heaving earth. Run. Flee. Her feet began pounding the ground before her mind caught up to her moving limbs as she stumbled and weaved along the roiling ground, darting the strange upheaval that roiled along the surface of the earth. Is this the end? The solemn thought accompanied a desperate need for clear space, as she sought a place of safety away from falling branches and heaving earth. But there was no where. Her stomach roiled as everything around her defied natural laws, shifting and undulating in ways her mind declared impossible. Yet still, the animal within screamed and shrieked it's defiance, spurring her on to seek a place of safety.

When all had done heaving, if she were able to move and was still concious, she immediately sought to return to home and to the safety of the other kanthrop.

Brytan · Post by **Brytan** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 7:11 pm

Samheen 27th - Tradetide

The world didn't end as Niamh had wondered as she hit the ground and darted for safety. The ground around her heaved and cracked, trees fell and animals ran. For a moment she could see the boar she had been hunting rush off through the brush, a flock of swallows shot overhead.

There was no cover, only forest. Niamh looked for safety but the turmoil of the moment, plus the fact that the geography of the island was litteraly changed as she walked didn't make it easier for her to...

The crevice.

She came upon the strange crevice she had seen earlier. Where once it had been small and insignificant it had now become quite a sizeable hole, one side of it protruding upward into the sky, giving some cover from the falling debris of the forest.

The dust settled, Niamh lived.

Scathed and most likely scarred as soon as the wounds closed, Niamh got up and looked at the sheer destruction which had taken place around her. The parts of the world that had remained standing were either few in number or wrapped in clouds of dust, still setteling to the ground which had stopped to tremble and heave. As she crawled out of her hidingplace and started to walk in the direction she thought the village lay, Niamh could see the terror which had taken hold of the island. Trees were toppled over like twigs being snapped off in a blizzard. Rocks and hills now covered the ground where once it had been flat and gently sloped towards the Skymyst mountains, they themselves still covered in dust on the horizon.

She walked in the direction she thought the village lay, but everything was upturned, litteraly. The island had been destroyed, but what remained...remained to be seen.

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:18 am

Stumbling across the heaving ground, she snagged her clothing on jutting branches and rocks, her sandals slipping along the roiling ground as panic swept over her and she suddenly found herself twisting for footing on the edge of yet another somewhat steep incline. It took barely a flicker for her to recognize the shielding protrusion there, and half-leap half-clamber beneath it's relative safety.

Marks seemed to pass as the world around her shivered uncontrollably, her heart the rapid beat of a frantic bird as she slowly regained control of her own senses and motions. After silence descended, an uncanny silence devoid of the natural noises of wildlife, she slowly emerged from her hiding place, eyes staring soberly at the unending destruction, as if some mighty hand had raked it's fingers along the ground, uprooting everything. The spirit within her seemed almost as stunned, sliding back from it's panic-spurred control as cuts and scrapes and bruises began to throb along her body, where the earth's shrapnel had caught her on her mad dash.

One hand lifted to the warm, wet substance that began to slowly creep along her jawline. Unable to remember what could have done so, the bleeding gash that edged along her lower right jaw seemed to intensify the nauseating knot that was forming in her belly.

She expected to come across the village any moment now, but as her eyes skimmed for any recognizable marks among the devastation, she could not still the mournful cry which burbled from between her lips.

"Oni?!" Her pace quickened, and another twinge in one of her legs suggested she might need to care for another injury. At the moment she pushed the pain aside, her voice becoming slightly more frantic. "Eidolon?" A few seconds later, her elegant voice cracking with rising uncertainty. "Ardal?!"

Catherine Durenne · Post by **Catherine Durenne** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 2:28 pm

Catherine had been busy helping with the preparation of the evening meal when the drums had started. She had looked up to see what was going on yet instead of looking up she was looking down as the world she knew fell down, she lost touch with the steady ground for a moment as it gained momentum.

All she could do was look around, or down, in horror and curl up to make protect herself. Her senses short-circuited for a moment as everything she knew shattered in an instant. Flashes from her life up until now flowed past in rapid succession. A strange calmness overcame the fear that held her. She knew she was going to die and she couldn't do anything about it. "This is the end." A sharp pain shot through her arm as the island made its impact, sharp pain and darkness... blissfull darkness...

She didn't know for how long she floated inside the darkness. "I am dead... Where will I go?" she thought, almost absent-mindedly, thoughts still too hazed from shock to form anything more coherent. A sharp pain shot through her body... Wait? Her body? If she was dead she wouldn't have a body? What? Pain

For a moment pain overwhelmed her senses as she regained consciousness. Coughing she crawled up, looking at the ruins around her. "What?" she managed to stutter. Pain shot up through her arm again and she closed her eyes for a moment, using some of the mental tricks she had mastered to ignore the pain for the moment. "It is probably broken... Will need to look at it later... What happened?"

At that moment she heard the Niamh's frantic call and her eyes flew open. "Niamh?" she managed to croak out right before she started coughing again. "Damn dust..." She closed her eyes tightly for a moment as she made a wrong move with her wounded arm and the pain shot up through it once again.

Clutching her wounded left arm tightly with she managed to scramble up, looking utterly bewildered at the scene around her. "Dear Ursa..."

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Fri Jun 16, 2006 5:24 pm

The unidentifiable croak emerged from somewhere to her left and Niamh immediately swerved in that direction, rounding a ragged lump of something she couldn't identify. A few fingertips lifted to apply pressure to the gash along her jaw as if she could halt the constant warm drip that was now starting to creep down her neck.

Catherine. There was no petty dismay in the thought, but relief. However much the other kit rubbed her the wrong way, she was her fellow Kanthrop, someone familiar ... and alive. A coil of fear almost paralyzed Niamh then, her limbs beginning to tremble and quiver as she realized how devastating the event may truly have been. Things had halted for the moment, but would the next rip the island to shreds?

"Catherine..." she too coughed then as she scrambled over bits and pieces of rock, village and branches, not realizing until she was nearly upon the other female how oddly her arm was canted. "Your arm!" Niamh reached her free hand to gently clasp the other kit's good shoulder, gently exerting pressure to try and make the other sit down. "I should.. find..." for some reason she couldn't think straight, her normally self-confident manner absolutely shattered. Yet she knew there was something that needed to be done, so she kept moving, driving down the fear like she had been forced to drive down the occasional powerful surges of her inner animal.

She tried to remember some practical thing to help Catherine with her arm. Keep it still... tie it to something straight until they can heal her.... Her eyes cast around for something, anything, that would be of use.

Catherine Durenne · Post by **Catherine Durenne** » Sun Jun 18, 2006 6:48 pm

"Niamh," the kit managed a weak smile as relief washed over her. Although she and the other kit couldn't get along too well she was glad to see her. Her solitary nature had deprived her of much of the comfort that one would normally get from friends, in fact Catherine preferred silence over talking anytime and usually sought her reprieve in the woods as her chores and studies allowed her to. Yet now she was happy with the compagny of the other kit. As Niamh tried to press her down she smiled weakly: "No, please not... I don't think I'll be able to stand again if I sit down now. We must look for the others..."[/i]

The blonde woman frowned slightly as she observed Niamh's behaviour: "Apparently she's in shock... No wonder with all this going on." Catherine herself had some trouble in fighting off the haze that wanted to cover her conscious mind but had been trained to keep focus under pressing circumstances. The searing pain in her arm had subsided slightly but every shift of her arm intensified the feeling again. "I need something to hold it still and something to get her out of shock..." She decided that a purpose and talking would possibly help bring Niamh to her old self.

"There were others that were helping. We need to find them to see if they need help," in a weak attempt at humor she tried, "That food will probably taste better now then after I prepared it..." "What am I doing? Facts, people, a stick... GAH! Think! Think! THINK!" Still shaken from the crash it took her all her strength to retain her composure. Helping Niamh getting out of shock would simply cost too much energy. "I'll just slap her if she doesn't snap out of it soon," she decided while she moved around to find something to stabilize her arm and flinched as it moved slightly, "Then again... Maybe kicking will work better... That way I won't have to let go of my arm..."

Brytan · Post by **Brytan** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 12:43 pm

The dust in the air was caught in a breeze, picking up from the west. The smell of salt and water carried along with it, the smell of the ocean. Catherine and Niamh had never smelled the ocean before. The air currents at high altitudes never carried the familiar odour of salty water or other fragrances, and most of the time the Skymyst mountains would block out the cold anyway, so that there was never any wind to speak of.

Around them vision became clearer. And what they could see didn't look at all good. The village did not exist anymore. All that remained were poles, tattered patches of leather and skins, rocks and the remnants of once proud ancestral totems, lying in ruins. They could see other shapes move in the debris. Some quickly and decisively, others slowly and uncertain. They could hear other voices calling out, though most reflected the kanthrop spirit, the hunters were already mobilising;

"You! Check the lake, take Keirt and Valan. There are some kit in the woods, I will take that side with Penou! Where are Hawkeye and Analor?" The voice of Oni soared over the town and they could see her shape move over the dustclouds to the west with some shapes on foot in tow.

Around them more people were mobilising. Kanthrop weren't the kind of people to moan and cry and even in times of disaster their spirit rose up to meet whatever they faced. "Dears! Are you alright?" Through the clearing dust fog the shape of Kaila rushed towards Niamh and Catherine. "By the Mother, I'm glad to see you are alright. I thought you were out in the wild preparing your trials, the woods are almost leveled and have you seen what came in it's place? Oh, let me look at that arm, where are Ardal and Eidolon?" Kaila did what she did best, even through her words she went about nurturing and caring. There was fear in her eyes, but not for herself but for those around her.

"Terrible, just terrible. So many wounded, so many dead. The hunters are out looking for survivers but no one has seen Analor."

As the sea breeze whipped away the dust, more of the terrible destruction that had taken place became apparent. Looking to the north they could see the Skymyst mountains display an entirely different skyline. To the northwest the Gnilwoh forest was...tattered. It's green wall ruptured and broken, many trees uprooted and destroyed. In the middle of the forest, where once the burial grounds lay, now the ground rose above the trees, a wall of earth and rock, spikes and pinnacles reaching to the sky in a horrid display of volcanic darkness.

To the east, the mountains were gone. A large gap showing nothing but dust and sky.

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 5:41 pm

Before Niamh could respond to the other kit, her senses began to filter through the dust, catching on unfamiliar scents she had never before known. What is that? She could almost taste the salt in the air, imagined she could feel the breeze casting strange granules into her face.

As the air cleared, Niamh's eyes widened as the vast destruction became apparent, her fingers pressed harder at the gash along her jaw, the sharp flow of pain reminding her it was, indeed real.

"You! Check the lake, take Keirt and Valan. There are some kit in the woods, I will take that side with Penou! Where are Hawkeye and Analor?"

"One less kit in the woods, Oni..." Her voice rose, half-choked by an emotion she couldn't name.

"Dears! Are you alright?" Through the clearing dust fog the shape of Kaila rushed towards Niamh and Catherine. "By the Mother, I'm glad to see you are alright. I thought you were out in the wild preparing your trials, the woods are almost leveled and have you seen what came in it's place? Oh, let me look at that arm, where are Ardal and Eidolon?"

Kaila's calm reassured Niamh, even as her question unsettled the younger kanthrop.

"I think Eido had gone to hunt, as I had - and Ardal had gone to fetch herbs for Oni... Culwago went off on his own, early this morning, as well..." For once, the spirit stirring inside her seemed to renew her energy, stirring her to action.

Glancing back at the forest, Niamh gasped. How in Ursa's name did I emerge from that?! And the open expanse... "The mountains are gone.... and that breeze is heavy with scents I've never known...." Her words emerged quietly, as if to herself.

Taking in all this information, Niamh suddenly couldn't bear it anymore, she allowed the spirit within her to rise farther, allowing her hurts and aches to fade as she fetched a straight,flatish pole for Kaila to use as a support for Catherine's arm.

In silence and determination, Niamh shook off the oppressive wave that sought a hold on her, and began to pick her way through the rubble, following the cries of those injured or trapped, hoping as she looked in every face that none were Eidolon or Ardal, even as she spent time shifting material or attempting to triage the wounded she came across.

Catherine Durenne · Post by **Catherine Durenne** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 7:24 am

OOC: My apologies but my two last exams were too close in time to post. In about an hour the last one starts so after I have recovered

from it, I'll make a posty! (somewhere this afternoon/evening)

Brytan · Post by **Brytan** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 9:06 am

There were plenty of wounded in the village to tend to, and with the absense of the village healer Niamh's help was taken up with gratitude by most she came across. As she walked through the rubble, the broken tent poles and the torn canopies the devastation became apparent.

Left and right spikes of rock had risen from the earth, in some places entirely new plateaus had shot up to meet the sky, leaving the hill that held the Threed Fox in as but a small nudge in the landscape compared to some of them.
The inn itself was still standing, as wonderous as anything it had withstood the massive earthquake and apart from some damage to the roof it was still erect. Some of the villagers, Tran and Jerin in the lead, were already in the process of repairing the damage and Teladriane was working on setting up the dormitories to shelter the injured.

Some familiar faces were gone, still unaccounted for. Groas Wavebreaker wasn't anywhere to be found, and yet he had been on the island for the meeting of the Hooters. Analor and Hawkeye were also still missing and that bothered a lot of the villagers. A sense of fear lingered in the air and grew stronger as the first bodies of the dead were starting to be found and salvaged.

"He is dead, I'm sure of it. His cabin is in ruins."
"But he might not be, I heard he headed out into the fields before the earthquake."
"They found Illias near Paw lake, it's almost drained. A strange sight to behold."

Such were the stories floating around the town. Niamh's ears caught little of it yet, her ears and her concious filled with the adrenalin of the collapse still rushing through her, and her Inner Animal raging to and fro, keeping her going, moving, not to look, not to stop.

Catherine Durenne · Post by **Catherine Durenne** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:47 am

The unfamiliar smells that teased the kit's nostrils weren't all too unpleasant but that didn't matter much for now. The implications of such things were far greater... "Far greater then I can comprehend maybe..."

She was distracted from her thoughts when pain shot up through her arm again, Oni's voice almost didn't penetrate the haze of pain and the concentration she maintained to keep it at bay. Yet when the meaning of the words slowly trickled through the haze she fel afraid. "So many will have been lost... My home is no more..."

Catherine looked at the destroyed village, for the first time fully realizing what it meant to her. She had played here, studied and laughed. All Kanthrop were bound to this place by their heritatge, the blood that flowed through their veins. Though she usually did not partake in the more social activities there were many that she admired and looked up to. And those were not necesarrily the strongest or most skilled among the Kanthrop. Kiala, for her sunny nature and her never-give-up attitude, Petran with his silent strength... "Hell... Even Niamh who never seems to grow up," the moist in her eyes was not from pain, "It was my home... A place to return to even when I was bound to go to the outside world, a place were I could be safe and now it's struck by tragedy itself."

She made a decision: "Kiala, please take care of my arm... They'll need every helping hand they can get, even if it's only one out of two," she hesitated for a moment, "Is... Do you know of Petran is..."

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:50 am

OOC: I have been having various troubles lately and have not been able to post. If at all possible, I shall catch up tommorow. I give my sincerest apologies for the incovenience.

Brytan · Post by **Brytan** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 4:13 pm

OOC: Thanks for the heads up Ardal. I've noticed a slow posting rate at any case. People are busy just before the summer season, so don't worry. Should any feel the need for a time out, or a posting increase, let me know through PM so I can cater to your currently available playing time, wouldn't want anyone to feel bored, this should be a challenging and exciting time for Ursa Etheria!

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:13 pm

"Teladriane?" Niamh escorted an injured Kanthrop, her fellow's arm slung over her shoulders as the two appeared by the make-shift dormitories. Her expressive features were pale and tight with undirected anger as she hauled the last occupant of her chosen pile of rubble to Teladriane.

"Where am I most needed?" The kit moved to settle the figure she was helping to the ground, standing ready for further instruction. The situation was overwhelming, and the barrage of tasks that needed to be done distracted her as she hesitated before returning to what seemed a wasteland.

Brytan · Post by **Brytan** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 4:14 pm

The situation was grim. Inside the inn the dormitories were already laden with casualties of the terrible blow to the island. Outside more and more people were finding their way back to the village from where ever they had been, or were being found by the hunters who had taken it upon themselves to search the island for casualties and strays. As Niamh entered the inn and pretty much handed over the poor, injured Kalla, an older woman who tended the Goldenback fields daily to provide the tribe with their daily grain, she could hear the moans and grunts of the wounded rise into the air.

It was a sound unfamiliar to most. Kanthrop were not known to let their pain be apparent to others, but this was not just a physical blow, this was as much a mental one. Their home destroyed, their world ripped, their kin wounded or perhaps dead.

Kiala tended to Catherine with her own motherly way, splinting it with the help of Niamh before she moved off, finishing the task on her own with little effort. It hurted to move the arm, but the bleeding had stopped. "You'll be okay now dear, try not to move that arm too much for now." She looked over to the edge of the woods as some voices rose. "Seems Petran has returned dear." Indeed, Petran had returned. Still in his panther form he was...running from something?

A dire shape chased the kanthan into the torn village. A visage of terror and pain, terrible cries arising from it under the shade of the trees. As it broke free from the shadow of Gnilwoh, and hit the sunlight which was at it's brightest it screamed in terror and agony and seemed to vanish into thin air, almost as if it had never existed. Petran was exhausted and laid himself on the ground.

Niamh did not see much of these occurances. She was in the dormitories where she came across a familiar face. Culwago was there, laid down on a cot, seemingly in terrible excruciating pains as he screamed loudest of all present. His body was strangely aglow, a blue sheen seemingly emanating from his very being. Teladriane walked upto the man and betted his forehead. "He is struggling with something. His dreams are not his own. I pray the Dreamweavers will bring him back unscathed." She then turned directly to Niamh. "You can help by looking over the new arrivals. My cots are filling up fast and we need to see who needs what care. There are some medical supplies, herbs and bandages over by the fire, please see if you can use them to some effect and you'll be a great help Niamh."

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:49 am

OOC: Heh, I guess things are taking longer than I thought. I don't want to hold things up, so I suppose you can all just go on without me. I suppose that it will be easy enough to re-insert Ardal later. I'm really sorry.

Niamh Windwalker · Post by **Niamh Windwalker** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:48 pm

Unaware of the strange outburst taking place without, the salty-sweet scent of blood and the groans of the mangled assaulted her senses, focusing them, honing them as she set to the tasks at hand. The faintly glowing kit, Culwago, lingered upon the edges of her senses as she approached the hearth where rested medical supplies, her long, rapid stride the lie to her tentative thoughts. Although she had cared for many of her own scrapes and bruises (in an effort to avoid lectures) she had never really learned what items were used for what.

Her knees pressed into the stones as she knelt, her fingers plucking bandages from the pile and settling them in the crook of an arm. Her eyes scanned the herbs for anything she might recognize, but after fingering a few of the dry, stiff leaves, she left them where they lay, choosing instead a squat pot of cream with a familiar astringent scent that left her yellow-rimmed eyes smarting.

With the knowledge of her own lack, Niamh set to the simplest of tasks she could. Well then, if Teladrianeâ€™s cots are filling, I will simply have to empty them for her... Keeping this in mind, she moved among cots the of those with more minor injuries, inspecting the wounds, slapping a bit of astringent on the smaller scrapes, wrapping bandages on those with wide splotches of scrapes that still seeped crimson droplets. Her fingers moved slowly at first, her hands tentative and her demeanor apologetic for the pain she caused. As the flickers passed into burns, however, a new confidence replaced her uncertain ministrations, and instead of silent perusal of figures she assessed somewhat coldly, her agile features slowly began to reflect that newfound ease.

Her intense focus allowed her to forget the devastation outdoors; it allowed her to forget the reason for so many injuries. Her callused hands worked ceaselessly to wrap injuries, to slap cream on wounds, to tighten or loosen the bindings, to gently shift any willing of the less injured to a place where they could be immobile but lend their hands to those worse off. After nearly half a mark, her voice began to emerge as well, as musical and jovial as her sharp features might be considered unlovely.

â€œHere now, you canâ€™t blame the hole in your roof on me this time, can you...?â€
â€œYou canâ€™t pummel me as you ought, so perhaps nowâ€™s the time to tell you who was responsible for the dye in your soup that one day... I didnâ€™t realize it would stain your teeth!â€
â€œAh well, can you blame a kit for using your kanthar as a kite? I only had the one at the time, and I was wearing it! I mean, and who was I to know the wind would pluck it away without a by-your-leave....â€

The jovial snatches of her many misadventures flowed ceaselessly from her lips, an appalling string of confessions that hopefully distracted her patients. Yet there was something about her stories that was a testament to the continuing spirit of the Kanthrop â€“ they could be beaten, they could be ground down briefly by the burdens of despair, but just as the Change lent them a new shape with its own strengths and weaknesses, so their Souls weathered such times, Shaped as clay to fit the newness of an uncertain age with resilience. Despite the gash that occasionally cracked and seeped along her jaw, and the endless aches and scrapes that hovered at the back of her consciousness, Niamh revealed the indomitable spirit of her people. She was no longer a careless kit, unmindful of her kin as long as she enjoyed the passing of her own days. Suddenly thrust into responsibility, she found herself useful, needed â€“ and perhaps such was all that had ever been needed to tame her wild ways...