An Unusual Herd

[Djute]

The expedition had set out from the village the next day and, though Djute had been sad to leave the festival behind, the sight of the rolling plains had quickly raised his spirits. When they had made decent progress into the plains, they had taken a short break, then separated into two groups. Garoche had taken Hester and Lars and continued on into the plains to continue exploring routes for the merchants. The rest of the group had taken a position atop a hill that overlooked the estimated movements of the Tarvos. Djute had positioned himself at the crest of the hill, sprawled out on his stomach with his parchment stretched out before him, eager to finally find out what a Tarvos was. As he lay there, Hammond approached him and nudged him in the side with his foot. "I'm taking a nap. Wake me if something happens." Djute grunted in response, entirely determined to let him rest whether something happened or not. If Hammond wanted to be lazy rather than vigilant, he couldn't be bothered to get valuable information.

As he waited, he got out his drawing materials and an extra scrap of parchment. He began to sketch the surrounding area, but after sketching his third hill, he realized that it was all rather similar and scratched in a little note that said "repeat this" next to the last hill he drew. He dropped his quill next to the paper and let out a bored sigh. It seemed that, for now, he would just have to wait for something to happen.

[Yukaida]

Yukaida had been delighted to travel with Djute, Zach and their other friend Garrett. They were explorers, for one, so of course they knew a lot about the world. That might help to get her some more knowledge on what was out there, plus she really did want to see what these 'Tavros' they kept talking about were. It wasn't like the journey was all good things, however. She was a bit disappointed to leave the festival so quickly. They were in such a rush, but if she were going to observe them, she needed to follow the path they walked, at whatever pace it was.

But at the same point, humans were so slow! They'd spend an entire day trudging along on the ground, barely covering any distance at all! I mean sure, there were interesting things you might miss if you were flying, but they had a destination in mind (which they had just reached, apparently). Didn't humans have faster ways to travel in situations like this? Well...she could endure it for now she supposed, but she was finding herself quickly growing bored by this pace. She made it bearable by talking with the entirety of the company, getting a gauge for who they were. They seemed like mostly good humans, a few quirks here and there, but that was just what made them so exciting to study. No two quite alike.

She spied Djute over laying on a hill, and more importantly with a writing instrument and a piece of parchment before him. A smile split her face as she moved over to him, flopping down on the grass next to him. She squirmed slightly, the blades of grass tickled her human skin. Such sensations were still foreign to her, as her dragon scales made such feelings impossible. Almost all contact by dragon kind was based off of temperature, which was why they could easily sleep on solid stone floors.

It had not taken her long in her human form to find that far more uncomfortable for humans. In fact, yesterday had been a lot of firsts for her. Once she'd figured out what an 'inn' was, she'd reluctantly agreed to staying in one to avoid arousing suspicion from her new companions. Normally she would just find a cave or a clearing, revert to her natural form, and sleep unbothered. Sleeping in human form in the wilderness was...very uncomfortable. These creations of the humans, however, these 'beds', now that was interesting. The smooth sensation as she lay against it, it was something nice and pleasant to her. A sort of comfort she never noticed when he skin was hard as steel.

The feeling of the sun warmed grass under her fingers was still odd to the dragon, but she could say without a doubt that she enjoyed it. She glanced over to Djute's map in progress, and made an expression much like a pout to see him stop. Awww!

"Hmmm, I was hoping to see you work on your maps again. It's very impressive to watch a craftsman apply their trade." She spoke, not realizing that she'd just revealed that she'd watched him before.

[Zacharia]

Zacharia was sprawled not too far from the rest of camp, a pile of ash surrounding him like a throne and covering up the incinerated grass. If he could just....poof! "Nuts." He really thought he got the spell down that time! That was quite the strange noise it made there, too. He would've gone to go talk with Djute to go blow some steam off, but at the moment it looked like the mapmaker already had company. He took out a piece of charcoal he...borrowed from Djute to scribble something down in his book(He'd return it later!). It was one of the few substances that didn't alter the magical effects, strangely enough. You could scribble over the runes on every page with charcoal and it wouldn't blink an eye, so to speak. "Okay...again." he muttered to himself. He drew his hood up and if you were looking at him from far enough away, you'd see nothing but the grass and a pile of ash. He stared into his hand, focusing with all his might. The world blurred out of focus, and--aghh, so close this time!! He stifled a yelp as he smooshed his burning hand into the grass. At this rate he'd open up that cut on his palm again; how was he able to do it the other night with Djute but not now? He would've mulled it over more but his body resisted and laid him flat on the grass with a headache. The book lay on his stomach, as well as the charcoal pencil.

[Garrett]

Ugh... He felt awful. It had been only a few days since they left the town, and even then when they were there they only rested for a day. Not to mention the fact that there wasn't really a whole lot of resting on that day to begin with, something he was definitely paying for now. It was something he had noticed before, but now it was even more apparent on how hard it was to keep up with everyone else. He tried so very hard, and he still couldn't keep up most of the time. He managed, but he was so tired at all times. His feet ached and he had a hard time keeping his eyes open sometimes, he looked more pale then ever but still somehow managed to survive. They had barely taken any breaks, and whatever small chance he could find was usually filled with either trying to catch up or taking what little nap he could. He hadn't gotten a whole lot better, but he also hadn't really gotten any worse so at least it was normal. He wasn't used to traveling, and it was really wearing on him. Still, he wouldn't let it stop him, not if he could still move.

It seemed a new person started to travel with them after the festival, but Garrett never really had the time to talk with her. She's tried to speak to him, like she's spoke to everyone, but they never really spoke about anything. He wasn't really receptive, she probably thought him as rude, but he had a hard time talking under these circumstances. In fact now was probably the first time he's had a chance to actually do something other then sleep when they had a break. Maybe that meant he was starting to feel a little better? Could of fooled him, he still felt awful. Still he watched everyone going about their business with a tired looking smile. No one really talked to him or worried about him much, it was a refreshing change. That girl was over there, speaking with Dj about something. She seemed to like speaking with him particularly, his wound has probably fully healed by now too.

They seemed busy, so he didn't want to bother them. Dj was probably working on a map too, which Garrett was still not entirely sure how maps worked. Zach seemed to be taking a nap as well, not too far away. The cleric had tried to sleep himself, but he simply couldn't despite his efforts to. Maybe he should try to do something useful? That was his motivation to his current action, which looked remarkably similar to just sitting there doing nothing. He closed his eyes as he let the wind slowly blow by, taking a deep breath of the clean air. In his hand was a book, and in his other was a quill. He had intended to write something in his journal, but had a hard time putting it into words.

"Maybe..." He muttered to his self before opening that journal again to put down his thoughts.

[Djute]

Again? She wanted to watch him map again? When had she seen him map for the first time? He hadn't worked on his large map since the morning of the festival and since leaving the village, he had only been keeping track of the landscapes they passed in his head. Had she been spying on him? The thought made him uncomfortable. He had become quite wary of being watched ever since the bandit attack several nights prior and it disturbed him a little to think that he had been observed for several hours and hadn't noticed anything was off in the slightest. If he was that unaware while he was drawing, he'd probably have to bring someone along every time he went off to map, just so they could watch his back. With this new revelation in mind, he rose to his knees and gave Yukaida a look that was equal parts shock and surprise. Then, realizing the words were catching in his throat, he looked back towards the ground. "You... you've watched me... before? But.... but, when did you... do that?

He really wasn't sure what else to say. He didn't want to start throwing accusations around without evidence. If Yukaida had been spying on him, for whatever reason, should could become dangerous when provoked, and he didn't want to cause a fight for no reason. He also didn't to insult her or hurt her feelings. Djute wasn't one to say mean things just to hurt people, and he had to admit, he rather enjoyed her company, despite the fact that he couldn't talk to her face to face. But he couldn't just let his suspicions slide either. His duty to the guild came first and if, by bringing Yukaida along, he endangered the others, he would never forgive himself.

[Yukaida]

Yukaida watched Djute move to his knees. Oh, this was the whole 'bothered by females' thing again. It was very silly, but kind of endearing to watch. He wore that usual bothered expression as he asked his question. Instantly, she realized her mistake. Oh damn, she shouldn't have said that! She couldn't hide it though, Dragon's do not lie. Best to tell him the truth now...or at least some of the truth.

"Ah...I didn't wish to seem...odd. I saw you the morn of the festival when I was moving through the woods. I hadn't intended on spying on you, but I was curious about what you were doing, you were so engrossed in your work. But it was...you worked with such dedication, such precision. It was as if you didn't even stop to think, as if your hand knew exactly what to do to create the landscape on the parchment. I guess your dedication to your craft captured my attention, but I didn't wish to tell you for fear that it would unnerve you." She paused for a moment. Her explanation seemed weak, even to her ears. He'd probably want some space from her for now, and she would not force him to move to get it.

"Please excuse me." She said, rising to her feet and moving back towards the main group. She spied the healer boy, Garrett if she recalled correctly, sitting there with a book open. Zach was channeling magic, but had been for a little while. The boy seemed obsessed with it, that could be dangerous.

"Good morning, Garrett was it? You look puzzled, is everything all right?"

[Garrett]

"I do, do I?" He said with a smile, his eyes following the girl as she came nearer. She had been over there by Dj, but now she seemed to have decided to come over and talk to Garrett. Which wasn't a bad thing, Garrett had nothing against her, he was just sort of surprised that of all the people that she could have possibly visited it would be him. He held his book closed, one of his fingers hiding inside to keep his place. It's not like he had got anything done, but that wasn't the point. So he never really got a good look at her, she was wearing a brown leather cloak and had bright purplish hair. "It's Garrett, and good morning to you as well Yukaida." He was about to call her Yuka, but that was way too familiar of a way to address someone you've never actually spoken to at length with. "I don't have a chair, but there's plenty of grass if you wanna seat." He made an offer that really didn't sound particularly enticing, the grass wasn't as uncomfortable as it looked though.

"I'm fine though, don't worry. I'm just trying to think is all." He titled his head back to look at the clouds up in the sky, lazily drifting by. He still felt awful, so he actually just lied a little bit, but he wasn't wanting to get someone he didn't even know a reason to avoid him if he could help it. He expected her to say her piece and just walk on, doing whatever it is she does. Probably going back to talk to Dj, or talking to the other members here. They were all probably doing something much more interesting then he was, he saw Zach try to do some magic earlier, that had to be fun to watch. He let out a small sigh, what should he write about? He didn't even know.

[Yukaida]

Yukaida smiled a bit at his odd offering. "If you did have a chair, I would question how such a small one could carry it. You seemed tired while we were walking, I wasn't so excited by the prospect of traveling that I missed that." She said, sitting down next to him.

She glanced at the book he was holding, as if trying to read what was written on the pages. Empty, on rats. "Thinking, about what? You boys are all so busy, all the time. Zach with his magic, Djute with his maps. Do you never take time to just sit back and relax? I mean, even the festival the other day was people expending so much energy. Haven't you ever just laid back and...watched clouds float across the sky? Or listened to the wind through the trees? Or watched the water slide along the surface of a lake?" She questioned the young boy.

"It always seems like you are in such a rush. Relax, you don't have to be doing something every moment of every day. Besides, sometimes if you let your mind wander, you'll think of some new answer to your current problem." She suggested.

[Garrett]

"Hey now, I'm just as big as you." He said with a small laugh. "Who knows, maybe that could be my personality quirk. Always carrying a chair around, they can call me chair guy. As in 'to me chair guy, for I am in need of a place to rest my fanny'" He added with another laugh, not even sure what he was saying. He was tired, give him a break. She decided to take that seat he so graciously offered though, which implied she wasn't just here to ask a question and leave. Might as well strike up a conversation.

She told him to relax, the whole speech sounded... familiar. Not the same exact words, no, but the general feel of it. The general message, to take things slow and to relax. He's heard it a million times, from doctors, from concerned family members, from himself... "Relax huh?" He repeated with a small smile. He looked down at his book, nothing inside but he wasn't reading anything, he just wanted to look like he was. Instead his eyes sort of glazed over, he heard her words but they didn't feel real. "I don't really have time to relax..." It wasn't an answer, but it was all he said. He stayed silent for a moment, his gaze unbroken as he stared down at the empty pages. He broke it, of course, shaking his head with a wide grin. "I sleep most of the time, I'm usually relaxing more often then doing anything useful. You don't have to worry about me."

"I was trying to write something down." He held his quill pen up as if to make a point. "But I was having a hard time thinking of what to write. Maybe about the surroundings, maybe about the festival, maybe about nothing. I dunno." He punctuated the thought with a shrug and a hum. "It doesn't really matter in the end, but I just wanted to write something. I saw Dj making his maps and Zach practicing magic, I didn't want to be the only one doing nothing."

"You know, I think this is the first time we've talked." He said, changing the subject with all the subtlety of an anvil. "Tell me a little about yourself Yukaida, maybe it'll spark some thoughts. Where you from?"

[Yukaida]

Yukaida was confused by what he was saying at first. The chair guy? That seemed silly...were all humans this strange? Thankfully, looking at his expression answered her question, he was being absurd on purpose. Oh! He was making a joke, to try and play off something absurd as normal was a trait of human humor. She couldn't claim to understand it, but she went along with it, allowing an amused smile to break her lips. When he revealed his problem, she could not relate to it. "I guess...I never really understood the need to write things down. I mean, Djute and his maps I understand, those help people navigate and find their way. But why write down things like that? I mean, was the festival so special? Are your or my lives really that important that they are worth being recorded as such?" She questioned. It wasn't malicious, merely curious.

She shrugged a bit, and considered his question. He wanted to know about her, eh? Now how should she say this?

"Well...I'm from a big family, up in the northern mountains. Lots of siblings. My family was...er...I suppose you could call them cattle masters. We had a pretty good life for us, all things considered." She did feel a tiny pang of regret for phrasing it like that. Humans as cattle? Wasn't that exactly what she'd tried to change her parent's mind on? "It was a quiet life, I haven't met many outside of my family. Being the only one in my family to have this magic control, I had to teach myself. It took ce...years to finally get down the basics." She said, catching herself quickly.

[Garrett]

Garrett laughed and shook his head after seeing the confused look on her face. "It's alright, you don't need to laugh. I realize I'm not that funny." He said with a smile, he's never really told jokes before. It was nice to know that he stinked at it instead of wasting a whole life time wondering. Oh well, didn't much matter, he wasn't planning on being a jester. She also seemed confused on the concept of... writing? Which seemed like a bit harder to explain. He thought it over for a few moments, honestly he wasn't entirely sure his self. It just seemed like a good idea.

"Well... Writing is important. You know? It lets people share opinions and give insights and express thoughts and opinions even if they aren't there in person. It lets people who don't have to luxury to experience things the opportunity to see a world they never knew. When we write to others or to ourselves, it can give us insight to ourselves. Remembering things we thought we forgot." He spoke, sounding wistful about it all. He read. A lot. It was all you could do sitting inside half the time. Still that wasn't really it, that wasn't really why he enjoyed writing. "There's just something so... permanent about the written word. I mean one day we will die. We will all die, me, you, taguel, dragons, monsters, everyone dies one day. The ones we were close to, the ones we touch will remember us and hold us in their hearts, but one day they'll die too. Eventually there will be no proof we existed, no one to remember us lonely lives, but the word. Once you write a word, it is forever. If it is taken care of, a single word can live for generations, for thousands of years. Of course they can be destroyed, and there's no guarantee that these words will persevere. Or even if they deserve to. These words prove that I existed, they speak of the story of that festival which now has a chance to live forever in this ink. Words can change pages, be rewritten and reordered, but they still exist. The words are still there."

He simply shrugged after speaking, letting out a small hum of thought. "I think everything and everyone deserves to remembered, even the most mundane things. Well at least if I could actually form the words I want to write." He finished with a laugh.

"So you're from the north? I'm from the south, I come from a nicely sized family myself. Though my father hunted monsters for a living. I don't think I've ever seen a cow in person." He was different from the rest of his family as well and hadn't met many outside his family his self, but he didn't really want to comment on that. "It must have been tough to learn magic on your own. I had a teacher to help me learn how to use staves, and I still had issues grasping the basics. I'm impressed actually." So that made two mages he knew and three people who taught themselves the basics of some big skill. He was definitely surrounded by talented folk. "Did you have any friends?"

[Djute]

Djute stared off after Yukaida as she left, his feelings conflicted. He wasn't sure how this new revelation should make him feel, whether he should be creeped out whether he should just shrug it off. On one hand, she had done him no harm by watching. As she had said, she had only wanted to watch, and it's not as if she was working for some other guild and stealing their information. Heck, until a few days ago, she didn't even know what a guild was. On the other hand, she had kept the fact hidden from him and had instead lied directly to his face. There weren't a lot of things that made him angry, but being lied to was one of them. He would have preferred it if she had just come up to him while he was drawing and announced her intent. He would have enjoyed the company and graciously allowed her to watch. But she hadn't done that and now they were stuck with this uncomfortable situation. He sighed and buried his face in the grass. There was nothing he could do about it now. He would just have to wait for an apology. By now, Djute was regretting even mentioning the issue, mostly because he had lost his company and was once again bored. He wasn't sure if these Tarvos were ever going to show up or if they were even real. Djute was about to get evidence to the contrary.

A few minutes passed before he realized there was a sound growing on the horizon. At first, it was too indistinct to make out, but it was quickly becoming clearer and clearer. As he lifted his head from the grass, Djute realized that it was the sound of horses, and they were moving fast. He quickly got to his feet, to get a better view of the horizon. Was this the fabled Tarvos he had been expecting to see or a band of nomad scoundrels looking to whet their blades? At first, all he could he see was a growing cloud of dust being kicked up, but as the noise grew louder, he caught his first glance of what was approaching. At first, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he quickly began to see more and it became evident that this was no illusion. Several hills over, there were five or six creatures galloping towards their general direction. They were some monstrous combination of a wild man's torso, and the legs of a horse. Each one carried a monstrous axe and the one at the head of the herd carried a bow that must have been as tall as Djute. There could be no doubt about it. This was a Tarvos. Guys! he called back to the others, "Are you seeing this?"

[Yukaida]

Yukaida wasn't sure she was understanding everything Garrett was saying. These scraps of parchment and ink lasting forever? No way, it could be so easily destroyed, was it that important to try and preserve so much of their individual moments of life? Why did it matter so much to them, it wasn't like it mattered what you thought after you were dead... He'd just asked a difficult question of her, mostly because the word 'friend' was not in dragon vocabulary. She knew what it meant, but the concept of it was foreign. People were allies, superiors, inferiors, enemies and many other things, but equals? Not unless they were family, like mates or siblings. It just was not the way things were. She opened her mouth to start her response when she heard Djute calling them all, looking excited. She'd been so involved in the conversation and her thoughts that she hadn't noticed the sounds of hooves, she did now though.

"Come on Garrett!" She said, springing up and practically dragging the human with her as she moved quickly over to where Djute was. Sure enough, there was a whole pack of the creatures he'd described. While certainly powerful looking creatures, she'd honestly been expecting something bigger. "Oh wow, what majestic looking creatures..." She spoke, almost cooing it like she were looking at something akin to a deer. "These are the Tavros you were speaking of Djute? I can see they really are something to behold, I've never seen anything else close to this."

[Zacharia]

Well, his headache was starting to subside. That was a personal record, and he didn't even drink any water to get rid of it this time around. He sat up slowly and slid his pencil+book off his stomach. Djute was no longer talking to Yukaida, in fact he seemed a little...mad? Sad? Couldn't tell from this far away. He wanted to lay in the bed of grass forever and just let the world pass by. A muffled thumping and the ground shaking made him stand against his wishes and look around to see the noise's source. A dust cloud on the horizon..."Hey Djute!" he called out. "You see that too, right?" The cloud revealed itself to be a fleet of men on horses--- no, men/horses? "Man...plus horse..equals- oh gods." Tarvos! What were the odds of that? Probably pretty good since they'd crossed a good distance before they saw them. They were approaching, and fast. He picked his stuff up, turned tail, and ran to Djute and the rest of the group.

[Garrett]

Women had a thing for dragging him places didn't they? Well at least this time there wasn't gravel and dust and blech, still Yukaida was much stronger the she looked. He had no chance to resist, and it caused him to drop his pen, hopefully he could find that later. He hurried as quickly as he could so she wouldn't just be dragging him, he prefered his arm to not be broken. It took him a moment to really comprehend what was happening, they were talking about some kind of thing in the distance or something. He turned his head to see Zach rushing up to them as well, so he took a look to where everyone was looking. There was a group of... things. Monstery things. With horse bodies and human bodies kinda mashed together at the pelvis, it made him look confused before it slowly clicked in his mind. These where Tarvos, his father told him about these. Dangerous and smart, but generally peaceful though crazy territorial.

Which was kind of funny because... they were headed right this way. Oh. Oh crud. "Guys?" He rose his voice, but it was drowned out by the sound of galloping. "Guys!" He said again, louder. "I have a bad feeling about this." They were still a bit aways, but they were surely heading in their general direction. He hoped they hadn't intruded in their territory, that could be very messy. They were strong creatures, much stronger then them. A single one could probably take all of them combined, and six of them would absolutely destroy the caravan if they wanted. He didn't think they'd want to, but he's never seen or talked to a Tarvos in person. All he had to go on were the stories of a man in the hunter's guild, which means he usually dealt with Tarvos who weren't particularly happy. "Maybe we should move."