Raxta lounged in the net she was currently trapped in, which swung slowly from the canopy above. Or rather, it looked like she was lounging, but in truth, she'd worn herself out from her frantic struggles and now lacked the energy to do much more than just swing there and...
Accept her fate, she supposed.
She had tried to escape, but when the net had swept her off her feet and up into the trees, she had dropped her knife. Though she had claws and teeth, the fibers of the net were too tough to bite through, too thick for her claws to cut. She'd tried clawing at them, she'd tried biting, she'd tried screaming in frustration and thrashing for all she was worth, but it was no use, and it was made all the worse by the sight of her dagger laying on the ground below, hopelessly out of reach.
Like it was taunting her with freedom she couldn't attain.
Eventually, she wore herself out, which she knew was probably good. The humidity was getting to her, sweat slicking her skin, and struggling would only make her lose more water. Dehydration was her number one danger right now--second only to the obvious question of who laid the trap?
And what would they do when they found her in it?
With a sigh, Raxta shifted in the netting and tried to get comfortable, but it was scratchy and bit into her skin in the worst of ways. Her tail slipped through the netting and twitched anxiously as she waited, arms crossed over her chest as she stared up into the trees, a low growl in her throat.
At this point, she wasn't worried about being found; she wanted the culprit to show up. If it was an accident, so be it, but if they were hostile?
Well, they would see what happened when one messed with jaguar-kin.
They would learn then and there that she was the hunter, and that they, truly, were the hunted.
Kaela had gotten lost in thought, fruitlessly waiting for some helpless animal to get caught in her trap. She had been on the run now for two weeks. Kaela made a mental note to not go in Adela for a long time. Then her ears perked up. Some kind of animal had gotten caught in her last trap she had set. She smirked. She unsheathed her dagger and slid down from the tree where she had been perched. She stealthily made her way over to the grove of trees where that trap was, and peeked through the undergrowth. What she saw was not what she was expecting.
"What the actual hell, you're not an animal!"
Then she studied it more closely. She held her dagger in a defensive position, and her eyes narrowed.
"Were you following me?" And then she got closer.
"Are there others with you?"
Arms folded over her chest, Raxta scowled up at the trees as she more or less just...accepted her fate. Someone would come looking for her eventually, right? But in the meantime, it looked like it was going to be a long—
"Wah!" A voice spoke up, cutting through the quick, and Raxta jerked back to alertness, her tail bristling as her ears snapped erect. Twisting in the net, she shifted just enough that she could look toward the voice—and her ears drooped.
Not one of her people. It was a human. And she had a knife.
Raxta's lip curled, just enough to flash some fang. "This your trap?" she said, ignoring the girl's questions, and she stabbed a finger at the netting. "That knife better be for cutting me down."
Kaela snorted.
"Well this dagger isn't for killing you, unless you give me a reason to."
Kaela leaned against a tree trunk, suspiciously watching the—whatever it was. She still couldn't figure that out.
She glared at it. Her grip on the knife unconsciously tightened the more she looked at it.
"You probably scared away all the smaller animals too," she mused.
"How do I know if I cut you down you won't kill me?" Kaela questioned. She flipped the knife and caught it, still quite confused on what was resting in the net. And if she was being completely honest with herself, she really didn't want to kill this thing, whatever it was. But what if it was hostile? What if it had been chasing her? Apprehensively, she spoke to the creature.
"Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you," her grip on the knife was wavering.
Raxta opened her mouth then closed it, frowning. Those were two very good questions.
She huffed, rolling her eyes skyward. "You don't know that I won't," she said. "And I don't have any good reasons why you shouldn't."
She shifted in the netting to settle into an awkward crouch, eyes fixed on the human and head tilted. Her tail flicked, dancing restlessly. "But I can guarantee that if you try to take me out, I'll take you with me. And I can promise that if you let me out, I'd have no good reason to hurt you."
Kaela weighed her options. She was already feeling rather guilty about the last dragon she rather gruesomely killed. The money she got was decent, but she still felt slightly guilty. But on the other hand, if she didn't kill this—whatever it was—(Kaela realized she still didn't know what this thing was); it could still kill her. But it did promise to not kill her. She glanced at the dagger, then glanced at the creature. She rubbed her eyes.
"Why me?" She groaned to herself.
She sighed. Kaela looked at the creature.
"Ok, I'll cut you loose. Don't make me regret this." She climbed up a tree, and carefully cut at one of the ropes supporting the trap. She had made a crude pulley system of sorts to make it easier to get her kills down when they were foolish enough to get caught. As the rope snapped, she caught it, and then jumped out of the tree, letting the the rock she had tied to the other side of the trap go up so she could fall down. That way, the trap lowered to the ground in a controlled fashion. When the whole contraption was on the ground, Kaela carefully approached the creature. She held her hands up in a peaceful manner.
"I'm just going to cut you loose, that's all." And she carefully but quickly cut the net so the creature could get out of it.
It was a bluff and a gamble. Trapped in a net, Raxta was at a serious disadvantage. If this woman wanted her dead...well, there would be little she could do about it except try to make it difficult.
Her eyes flicked to the dagger as the girl seemed to consider her words, her heart thumping loudly in her ears. Maybe she had said the wrong thing, but she had hoped a little candidness might nudge things in her favor. Maybe she should have lied instead and promised to be good. She held her breath, waiting for the woman's judgement, tense and prepared for the worst—but it didn't come.
Raxta let her breath out slowly and nodded. She would behave, for now at least.
She watched the woman climb, mildly impressed that a creature with no claws of her own could be so nimble as she made quick work of the trap. Raxta half expected her to just let her drop to the ground and she braced herself for the fall, but instead she was lowered gently to the leaf-littered ground. No longer pulled taut, the netting fell atop her.
Now came the moment of truth. The woman approached, hands up and knife gleaming in the light, and Raxta watched her with narrowed eyes. But as promised, the girl only used it to cut the net open. As soon as she saw her opening, Raxta shoved at the netting and crawled out, quickly rising to her feet and brushing the dirt off her knees. She straightened to her full height (shorter than the human, blast) and gave the woman her best imperious look while having to look up. You know, as though she hadn't just been stuck in a net looking pathetic as hell.
"You made the right choice, human," she said with a swish of her tail. "Now I don't have to gut you. As promised."
Kaela tensed when the creature quickly got up, half expecting it to attack. But it did not. She nervously backed up a few steps and rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry about that, I wasn't trying to catch you it just sorta happened." Kaela still was holding the dagger pretty tightly, she definitely still didn't trust it. She quickly looked over her shoulder.
"You haven't uh, happened to see any other people passing through here, have you?" She asked. Damn she's been in one place too long. One rule of going on the run: don't stay in one place. She heard a branch snap, and she turned around only to find nothing. She winced as she turned around, remembering that the last dragon she killed had managed to wound her on her side before the dragon died. Damn, she must have opened up the stitches when she jumped down.
"Oh shit," she muttered.
"You don't happen to know a healer or somethin close by?"
Well that was stupid to ask. They were in the middle of a fucking jungle! She mentally facepalmed. It was the lack of sleep and no food, she told herself.
She glanced down at her side to see how bad the bleeding was. She sucked in a breath. That definitely was worse than she thought.
The woman seemed jumpy. Very jumpy to be twitching at the snap of a twig like that. Raxta cut a look toward the sound, one ear rotating to listen, and with an amused quirk of her lips observed a small monkey picking fruit off the ground. It blended in well with the leaves.
How had this human survived on her own this long? She had always heard humans were terrible at surviving.
"No other humans, no," she said with a shake of her head before squinting her eyes at the woman suspiciously. "Should I be expecting more of you? You seem awfully--"
Whatever she had been about to say was cut off by the woman's sudden, muttered curse, and then the question about a healer.
That's when it came to her: the subtle, coppery smell of rust. Raxta followed the woman's eyes as she looked down at her side, and her eyebrows rose. When had she done that? Just now while she was getting her down?
"Clumsy," she muttered under her breath with a shake of her head. How had she ever been worried about this silly human? Her question about healers, though, was...problematic. There were healers. Her tribe's wise woman was one, and she had several apprentices studying under her. But why tell the woman that when she couldn't take her there even if she wanted to--because she wasn't allowed back. "No," she finally said. "I don't know any. You'll have to stop the bleeding soon. If it doesn't kill you, something bigger than you will."
She paused. She had fulfilled her part of the bargain: she hadn't harmed the woman. And the woman had fulfilled her end by cutting down. As far as Raxta was concerned, they were square. This human's problems--this stranger's problems--were her own!
And yet Raxta hesitated, looking her over with a scowl.
Kaela sighed, expecting that answer. They were out in the middle of nowhere after all. She leaned against a tree and inspected the cut that had reopened. The bleeding had slowed down alittle, so she used her dagger and cut a long narrow strip of her shirt sleeve and clumsily wrapped it around the wound. She might be a good hunter, but she was no healer. That would have to do until she got somewhere civilized. She looked up at the creature.
"Dragon claws left a nasty mark," she explained.
"So, what are you, exactly?" She asked, before putting her dagger in its sheath.
She carefully reached up and pulled on a vine, testing its weight. She had left her bow and arrow and her supplies up in that tree, and she really didn't want to leave them there.
"Name is Kaela, by the way," she said.
After testing a few vines, she found the right one, and pulled on it. Her leather satchel and her bow fell out of the tree, and she caught them. She slung the bow behind her back.
Kaela couldnt stop glancing quickly at the creature's eyes. They were beautiful.
"You're sure you haven't seen any bounty hunt—I mean people around?" Kaela asked.
...Dragon claws?!
And the human said it so casually! Like it was a normal thing to get mauled by a dragon, much less encounter one in the first place. Either she was telling the truth or messing with her; surely it had to be the latter, or maybe 'dragon claws' was just the name of some human weapon?
Raxta watched her wrap her wound, trying unsuccessfully to puzzle out the meaning of her words, when the woman asked a question that made her brow crinkle. What was she?
What kind of question was that!
She let out a surprised laugh. "You can't tell by looking?" she asked, amusement in her voice. "Jaguar-kin, obviously. I go by Raxta."
Taking a step closer to the woman, ears perked, she squinted at this Kaela. Her wounds, her skittish behavior, her mention of a dragon, her repeating the question as to whether she'd seen other humans. It was a bit fishy, to say the least. Raxta didn't care what humans did in their own lands, but she did care when it happened in her territory. She had even cut the woman slack for releasing her, despite it being the woman's own trap.
"Should I have seen others like you? You seem nervous—but perhaps that is blood loss, too. Is there something you want to tell me, Kaela? Like what you were doing hunting in my territory?"
"Raxta. That's a good name. I asked what you were because I didn't want to assume," Kaela explained.
She cautiously felt the bandaged wound and winced. There must have been some sort of venom on those dragon claws, because it shouldn't be hurting like this still. Kaela glanced up at Raxta's question.
"Well for one thing I didn't know all of this," she gestured around her, "was your territory. Plus how else am I supposed to eat? I have to eat somehow. But I do apologize for encroaching on your territory. That was not my intention."
She went back to inspecting her wound, carefully taking the bandage off. Oh there was definitely venom on those claws. There were streaks of green going up her skin, away from the wound. At least it had stopped bleeding. Her face paled alittle. She tried to think where she had last even seen a path of any sort, much less a village.
"If it's any help, I didn't kill a dragon in your territory, unless Adela counts," She shrugged. A hand involuntarily went to her side again. Gods she's got to find a healer soon. And food. Kaela sighed. It was getting dark, she'd have to wait until morning.
Raxta closed her eyes and let out a slow, silent breath. It was true, this woman was ignorant of her peoples' ways; how would she know this was her territory? Though, technically, that was a lie--it was her territory, past tense. It was her clan's territory still, but she was no longer part of them. She wasn't even supposed to be here at all, but she had slunk back here with her tail between her legs as she tried to come up with a plan, an explanation, a bargain, anything that could convince them to take her back.
How was this human supposed to know any of that, though? And she was hurting--worse than hurting. As Kaela pulled the bandage off, the smell hit her nose before she even saw the green streaks spreading from the wound. It wasn't just blood she could smell then, but a wrongness. Different from infection, but still...definitely not good.
"I don't really care about dragons," she said, eyes still studying the wound. She chewed on her bottom lip, flashing sharp fangs, her words a little distracted because her mind was racing.
This human wasn't her problem. The human shouldn't even be here in the first place--but she wasn't supposed to be here, either.
She was clearly up to something fishy with her questions about other people...but Raxta was also guilty, was she not?
Not to mention the trap Raxta had found herself in, but...ugh...she did need to eat and humans had to use other means to catch prey, weak as they were.
She was in no way obligated to help her. They were square now and that was that.
She should walk away, mind her own business--
Raxta let out a soft, frustrated growl, her tail dancing. "Look, your injury..." She paused, as though still considering her words, then finally just went for it. "I might be able to help with it."
Kaela, if she was being honest with herself, wasn't sure what she was expecting. But what did Raxta mean she might be able to help? Was she a healer? But she said she didn't know any...she cautiously reclined against a tree, then clumsily sunk into a sitting position, wincing as she hit the ground.
"Thank you," she quietly said.
"I don't have much to offer you in return," she took a rough breath as the pain intensified, seeming to radiate up her side and across her front.
Kaela closed her eyes, trying to concentrate on her breathing and not the pain. She couldn't understand why the poison was only just now becoming a problem. She had gone to a "healer" and they had given her a clean bill of health. Or so she thought.
At least the moon was out, it's light shining through the trees and casting a soft, scattered glow through the canopy of the jungle.
Raxta only snorted at that. "There's nothing you could offer me that I'd want," she said, though her mind was racing. There was still time to back away and leave this human, let nature sort her out and do with her what it would. A weak thing like her wouldn't last long on her own as bigger predators than her would be attracted to her staggering about like a wounded, bloody deer.
If that green stuff didn't do her in, first.
With a sigh, she crouched down beside Kaela, squatting on her heels as she looked the woman in the eyes, her own eyes narrowed. "Actually, no, that's not true. You can give me the truth," she said. "You've been awful dodgy. You wanna tell me what's going on with you? if there are other humans about, I need to know."
She paused to let it sink in but didn't really expect answer just yet with the way Kaela was rapidly declining. There was little time to fuss. If she was going to do this, she needed to do it now. There was no point hesitating; the damage was already done, her tribe had already kicked her out, so may as well go all in.
"Think on it. In the meantime--" She held up a finger, a claw springing out, "--brace yourself. What I'm gonna do is gonna hurt, but I need you to stay still. I'm gonna reopen the wound and, uh..." She shrugged uncomfortably. "I guess try to get the green stuff out."
Kaela closed her eyes. If she closed her eyes, maybe she could pretend the pain wasn't there. Just breathe. Hyperventilating wouldn't help anybody, she told herself.
At Rhaxta's question, she visibly winced, opening her eyes.
"I was offered a huge amount to kill a dragon in Adela. I got sloppy, the authorities found out, and I vanished." She paused. Talking was painful.
"I think...I think I had two bounty hunters after me a week ago."
Kaela averted her eyes. Looking into Rhaxta's eyes was making her feel things.
At Rhaxta's warning, Kaela merely nodded. She was trying to take slow, deep breaths, but her lungs weren't cooperating.
"I'll try to stay still," she managed to get out, gritting her teeth and clenching her hands into fists.
Raxta didn't quite understand everything Kaela said. She wasn't sure what Adela was, but gleaned that it was a place. Kaela wasn't the first human she had encountered, either; her people had once had regular contact with outsiders--before everything went wrong and ties were quickly severed. It was how she knew Common, even though it wasn't her native tongue. It had been helpful years ago, but now it was no longer being actively taught.
Lucky Kaela.
Lucky Kaela, indeed, since what Raxta was about to do was entirely experimental.
"Hmm...then you have made a habit of hunting in the territory of others, I take it?" She snorted, shaking her head. "Alright, enough talking for now. Here I go..."
That was the only warning she gave Kaela before she drew her claw over her wound in one quick, precise swipe. Blood blossomed from the wound and Raxta caught some in her palm, brought it to her lips...and tasted it. Just a quick swipe of her tongue, enough to take in some of the woman's essence but not enough to harm herself on the toxins. That was all she needed to forge the connection. All she needed to take control of Kaela's blood.
The blood suddenly stopped dripping to the ground as instead, Raxta held it suspended in the air. Okay, what was she doing now exactly? She needed to draw the venom out somehow, separate it from the blood. She had ideas, but no idea if it would actually work--but hey, an idea was better than doing nothing at all, right? Pulling the blood from the wound, she let it flow in a loop back into the wound at a higher point, cycling it in and out, feeling along their connection for what didn't belong until--ah, there. Feeling that sense of wrongness, she chased after it, and soon dark splashes of green began to drip onto the soil as the toxin separated from the blood.
Kaela waited for the pain to come. And when it did, she jumped alittle. The pain intensified, so she just focused on breathing.
And then the pain got so bad she just flat out wanted to die. She was a seasoned hunter, she's been injured in practically every way possible. But this...the pain was weird. Her vision faded to nothing. Almost as if she just...didn't have eyes. Her vision didn't go black it just...didn't exist. For the time being anyway. The pain was almost as if someone was drawing the very essence out of Kaela, which Raxta practically was. It was akin to if the blood of a person turned to fire. That was the best she could explain it. Kaela really didn't want to pass out, she felt she wouldn't come back. So she focused on the pain. Which did two things. One, it made her stay awake, but two it made the pain feel worse. It was a double edged sword, but one Kaela was willing to grasp most willingly.
Time seemed to blur together, both feeling like an eternity and a second all at the same time.
The pain slowly started to subside, and Kaela fell into a mostly peaceful sleep.
Kaela passed out.
For one brief, wild moment, Raxta thought she'd killed her. It was her first time doing anything quite like this and she was going purely off instinct, so what if she had done it wrong? What if it was too much too fast and had shocked the human's body? But no, her chest was still moving and she could feel the throb of a pulse in her blood, and despite herself, Raxta let a relieved breath out through her nose.
Not that she cared, of course!
As it turned out, it was a small mercy, really, as it meant Raxta could work in peace while Kaela got to escape the agony. So in the end they both won, right?
Yet when Kaela's blood ran clean, and Raxta bade the blood to clot around the wound, she found herself left in an unexpected predicament:
What was she supposed to do with the human now?
"Uhhh...hello...?" Lightly, she pat Kaela on the cheek, brushing some of that unruly black hair away from her face, and when she got no response, she grimaced. Girl was out. So did she just...leave her here now or...?
Raxta stared down at her, tail swishing and ears back. This...was definitely not how she saw this day going. Well. She had done more than enough here. The girl wouldn't die of venom—
But if she left her like this, there was no guarantee something bigger wouldn't snack on her.
Not my problem, she told herself. They were more than square now. The girl had survived a dragon! She would be fine!
...Then why did it feel like she would be abandoning a kitten if she left her?
With a frustrated growl, Raxta scooped the woman up and tossed her over her shoulder. Kaela might be taller, but Raxta was stronger than she looked, and she carried her without much trouble as she made her way back to her temporary dwelling. It wasn't much, just a cozy den that some large animal had dug into the earth between the massive roots of an old tree, but it was a shelter and there was room enough for two.
Inside, Raxta deposited Kaela into her bed, which was a nest of furs. Alright. This was fine. She would let the human recover, make sure she wouldn't just up and die after all that work, and then they could part ways.
What could go wrong?
Kaela slept for two days.
It was a peaceful, needed sleep...for the most part. The last half of the last day she dreamed. Strange, inky, cloudy dreams, everything tinged in black and a strange, ominous presence in the back of every dream, watching...waiting...waiting for what Kaela couldn't figure out. She'd fight her way through various dragons and hostile forces, make it to this phantom...and the phantom would disappear, a skeletal hand tauntingly waving at her as his figure faded, his leering, abysmal grin, seeming to have eyes of its own as it faded away too.
And that's why, when Kaela awoke, she woke up in a cold sweat, breathing hard and sitting upright quickly. Too quickly, for as soon as she sat up her head screamed at her in protest and she fell weakly back onto the bed.
Wait...onto a bed...when she passed out she was on the jungle ground...what the fuck is going on? Her eyes adjusted rather slowly to the darkness. Or as well as they could anyways. She could still hear the chirp of the birds in the distance, so they must be in the jungle still. She cautiously looked around, still rather anxious from the strange onslaught of dreams she had.
Did Raxta leave her? Did someone else kidnap her? A million thoughts raced through her head. She better get up and get out of...wherever she was. She seemed to be underground or something. But the air still seemed rather fresh, albeit slightly damp. She tried to get out of bed and her body refused. Great. She was weak, and had no idea where she was. And she was starving.
"R-Raxta?" Her voice sounded just as scared as she felt.
Raxta had not planned for this.
She had not planned to care for the woman long term, had expected her to maybe sleep a couple hours and then move on, and yet she suddenly she found herself tasked with the human's survival. When she didn't wake up that night, Raxta felt her stomach sink. Had she...somehow made things worse? Would she wake up? What was she supposed to do with her?!
The wise women back home would know what to do. But Raxta wasn't home, so she found herself stumbling through figuring this out.
When it was obvious this would be no short snooze, Raxta did the only thing that seemed sensible: she carefully undressed the woman and tossed her bloodied clothes outside, fetched clean water, and washed and properly dressed her wounds. Then she tucked her back under the bundle of furs and...waited. Found little tasks to busy herself with. Checked her wound now and then and changed the dressing, adjusted the furs to make sure she wasn't too hot or cold. She hunted when she was sure Kaela would be okay alone for a few hours, and every now and then she held Kaela's head in her lap and carefully dripped water onto her lips, not wanting to risk her choking or growing dehydrated.
By day two, she was genuinely considering her options. Should she just suck it up and ask for help? This was well beyond her knowledge! She made sure Kaela was settled before she left to hunt, less because she needed to (she had speared a fat peacock the day before) and more to have a think.
How on earth had she gone from captive to captor?!
She had just returned from her hunt empty handed (for she had spent most of that time up a tree, watching a flock of parrots bicker amongst themselves as she debated what to do) and was just approaching her den when a weak voice inside made her ears perk upright. Raxta stiffened in surprise, then quickened her pace, squeezing through the roots to crawl inside.
"Kaela?" she called, and she was by her best of furs in a heartbeat, one hand on the woman's forehead to check her temperature as she had done so many times before. She leaned in, peering into her face. "You're awake?"
Because it was still possible she wasn't, and was only crying out in her sleep.
Kaela was so confused and disoriented. Was she underground? It felt like her body was delayed from the world around her, and it took her a minute to catch up.
A faint voice in the distance...
"Kaela?"
Kaela latched onto that sound. The only sense of familiarity she had right now...
...Rhaxta...
She felt a hand on her forehead and that grounded her more, somehow bringing the world into focus. Even though it was dark, and she couldn't see much, she could see the silhouette of Rhaxta beside where she was on the nest of furs.
"You're awake?"
"I think I'm awake...Rhaxta...is that you?" Kaela faintly asked...Ansgar above her voice sounded weak...
"Everything hurts..."
Kaela wanted to get up, but her body was not cooperating.
"Thank you. For all of this."
Kaela was grateful. Rhaxta could have left her to die in the jungle.
She was responsive. Weak, but alert enough to answer her questions. Raxta let out a relieved breath and pulled her hand away, sitting back in a crouch with her too flicking anxiously behind her.
Wait...anxiously?
No, she had definitely not been concerned about the woman.
"Don't thank me. What was I gonna do? Leave you out there, defenseless as a kitten?" She snorted, rolling her eyes. "After going through the effort of pulling the poison out? Why would I save you just to let you die?"
With a shake of her head, she reached for the clay pot she'd filled with water that morning and poured a bit onto a large, broad leaf.
She picked the leaf up, holding it carefully so it formed a sort of cup, and held it toward Kaela. "Can you drink on your own or do I need to pour it into your mouth again?"
Even though she was bundled in a nest of furs, she still felt strangely cold
...oh...oh...well her clothes must have been bloody. Where was she going to get new ones? Kaela didn't even know where her knapsack was...probably outside still.
Kaela tried to push herself up, so she could drink, but she couldn't.
"Damn...I can't, I'm sorry."
She frustratedly sighed.
"I don't think I've ever been this weak before...I really messed with the wrong dragon."
Her eyes were adjusting more and more.
"Are we underground?"
Now that she could see better, she could see the underlyings of roots crisscrossing above them.
"I...I could go for a cold bath right now. Might wake me up some..."
Raxta frowned and cocked her head, tail swishing.
"Not deep underground," she said as she shuffled closer. "Just in my den. Here."
She had settled near Kaela's head and begun to reach for her, but stopped short, suddenly awkward. Why, she had no idea. She had given the woman water a dozen times while she was zonked out, but the idea of doing it while she was awake was abruptly very...hmm...
Personal?
Oh, spirits, get over it! She had brought the woman into her home and that made her Raxta's responsibility—and not just because those were the rules of hospitality among her people. Out in the jungle, it was one thing—but now she had cared for her, tended to her, dressed her in her blankets and given her shelter and her bed...
Whatever.
With a slight huff, she slid a hand under Kaela's bare shoulders and lifted her up, helping her sit as best as she could, but slowly so as not to cause as little pain as possible. Then she let her arm rest on her back, keeping her supported. "Let's start with drinking before we jump to bathing, yeah?" she said, and offered her the water with her other hand.
She flicked a look over her, shaking her head. "Why mess with dragons, anyway? Every dragon is 'the wrong dragon' in my eyes."
"Thank you," Kaela said as she felt herself being gently sat up.
The water felt amazing, quenching her thirst, which wasn't as crazy as she thought it would be. She drank the water extremely fast. Rhaxta must have given her water while she was out.
"Why mess with dragons?" Kaela repeated.
"Well, money talks for one thing. And the thrill you get when hunting one...it's just amazing...This last kill though...I don't know about it anymore. I've been questioning killing dragons...this last one looked almost human...I don't know..."
Damn, when did merely talking become exhausting? She leaned more against Rhaxta's hand that was supporting her. She absolutely hated being this weak.
"Damn, how long was I out for?"
Outside, the birds chattered, and the myriad sounds of the jungle could be faintly heard from the den.
"Two days," Raxta answered as she stayed there, awkwardly holding Kaela and not really sure what to do now. Keep supporting her? Help her lay back down?
Kaela hadn't given her any cues as to what she wanted, so Raxta just stayed like that, shifting her eyes away as she felt her cheeks heat.
This was so stupid.
"Your last kill got its revenge and nearly took you with it. Maybe that's a sign. That's exactly why no amount of thrills makes it worth it. You want thrills, there's plenty of water buffalo to hunt—they're mean, they'll give you a hard time."
Kaela decided to try and sit up, slower this time.
"But people don't pay you to hunt a water buffalo for them, do they?" But then she fell silent, considering everything that had happened the past week.
"Maybe you're right..." she admitted.
Her eyes had finally adjusted to the dark.
"Nice little den you have here," she commented, trying to think of something to say. Kaela wasn't used to communicating with people. She wasn't used to feeling a slight blush on her cheeks either.
"Is there a spring nearby? Perhaps I could wash there?"
Raxta fixed Kaela with an incredulous stare. "Who cares if you are given your silly 'money'?" she said, for she only had a basic understanding of what that actually was. Her tribe had dealt with humans long ago, enough to have a vague concept—but it was utterly meaningless to them, and confusing as well.
"It's just shiny metal. You don't need to hunt buffalo for that. You can eat the buffalo and use its skin and bones and sinew and have all you need." She shook her head like she was explaining the most basic concepts that even a child should know!
"Anyway, there's water close. But...should you be getting up so soon? Can you even sit up without me?"
"I care!" Kaela said indignantly. "You can get a lot of things with money...good alcohol...cool weapons...warm clothes...a place to sleep."
"I'm going to be honest, I don't think I've ever had water buffalo." She thoughtfully said.
"Most of the time I end up eating squirrel, or deer."
Kaela's body protested her trying to sit up...a lot...her side was screaming at her to rest.
"Yeah I can sit up...kindof..." She attempted to push herself up, then collapsed back onto Raxta, Kaela wincing from the effort.
"I guess not," she admitted sheepishly.
Squirrel...? Raxta wrinkled her nose at that. That was beggar's food—desperation food. The sort of food you ate when you were surviving and not exactly thriving, at least in her eyes.
...Which was why she had also eaten her fair share of small game like that as of late. But Kaela didn't need to know that.
She snorted. "You don't need 'money', you can just make those things. No amount of shiny rock is worth your life. Ah, whatever. It's not my problem."
Tail twitching, she regarded Kaela for a moment. No, Kaela was in no condition to walk if she couldn't even sit, but Raxta could empathize with her desire—she, too, absolutely hated feeling dirty, and no doubt the woman felt disgusting after marinating in her own sweat and oils for two days. Plus, the dirt of travel! Raxta had only washed her wound; she had not bathed her, so she had laid in her den as she was when she encountered her.
Call her a neat freak, but the girl was gonna stink up her den.
She sighed. "Anyway, if you truly feel up to bathing, I suppose I could just carry you."
Kaela realized she owed a lot to Raxta...literally even something like Raxta having to carry her to the water source was something she hated asking. She was a hunter. And until about two or three days ago a tough hunter at that.
"How the mighty have fallen," she sighed to herself.
"If you wouldn't mind carrying me," she reluctantly admitted.
"Trust me this hurts my ego as much as it hurts yours." She mustered up a smile.
A single eyebrow lifted. Hurt her ego? Oh, not at all, actually. It was the opposite: it was a veritable ego boost to be strong enough to lift a pretty woman in her arms and carry her about.
Raxta, however, would die before she admitted that to Kaela.
The jaguar wasn't blind. She had eyes, and she had spent the last two days making sure the human didn't die, which had included stripping her of her filthy, bloody clothes and keeping her wound cleaned and dressed. She had worked with surgical efficiency, yes, but her head had also cooled over those days—which meant she could also observe the woman objectively.
In other words, she would have had to have been the single most unobservant fool in the world not to have acknowledged that Kaela was rather pretty—
—For a human.
Now Kaela was awake. And suddenly she was faced with the task of carrying the troublesome woman, fully conscious, to bathe.
"Very well," she said slowly, her ears pinned back, before she sucked it up and got to it. One hand was already supporting Kaela's back so she used the other to throw back the furs, slide under Kaela's legs, and scoop her up bridal style.
Of course, Kaela would find that she was very naked. Which didn't seem to phase Raxta as she stood from her crouch, lifting her with ease.
Kaela was normally a very confident, 'has-it-all-together' woman. But as Raxta picked her up, she became a flustered, blushing mess. She didn't want to fall out of Raxta's arms, so she put her arms around Raxta. Her heart felt like it was going to throb out of her chest. Surely Raxta could feel it. She tried to lookanywhere but at Raxta.
She cleared her throat.
"How's the weather been recently?"
Gods damn it get it together Kaela.
Uhhhhh, what?
Raxta blinked slowly at the question. "Humid...?" she said, brow furrowed in puzzlement, because the weather did not change much there. Every day was near identical: it was warm and it rained everyday.
What a strange creature.
Ducking so as not to hit her head on the low ceiling, Raxta carried Kaela out through the front entrance. Her den had two entrances so as to prevent being cornered there; the claustrophobic back entrance that squeezed out through the roots, providing an escape out into dense jungle, and a larger front entrance that opened up toward the river. She had blocked that one off with piles of leaves and foliage, and she kicked it out of the way as she walked.
"You okay?" she asked suddenly as they walked, glancing down at Kaela's face. The woman felt hot, and her face was an unusual shade of pink. And with the woman pressed so close to her, her keen ears, so much stronger than any human's, could clearly hear the tell-tale drumming of her heart. Just moving that little bit must have taken it out of her. Maybe this wasn't wise.
"This won't be too much for you? You've barely moved and your heart sounds ready to give."
Wow. Now that she wasn't in pain, and could actually pay attention, the jungle was beautiful. She could see a toucan perched on a vine overhead, and the sun filtered through the trees, casting shadows onto the ground.
Then Raxta asked if she was ok.
"Me? I-I'm fine."
Oh gods Raxta could hear her heart.
Raxta could hear her heart.
Cmon pull yourself together Kaela! good grief. She chided herself.
Kaela could see the river up ahead. It looked beautiful. Crystal clear blue water, bubbling gently, the current very gently flowing. A perfect river for a bath. Or a swim, even! There was even a tree overhanging the river, its vines just low enough to pass for a swing, the foliage providing shade.
They got to the river's edge.
"If you could just set me down by that tree, I think maybe I could manage," Kaela suggested. But then she felt herself slipping out of Raxta's grasp, and she fell right into the shallow, cold water, splashing Raxta accidentally.
"Wait—what! HOW?!" Was all Raxta was able to stutter out as, somehow, Kaela slipped from her grasp like a big, limp fish and splashed into the water, spraying her in the process.
And then Raxta just stood there, staring at Kaela, her ears back, arms limp at her sides, and expression flat as water dripped from her hair and clothes and off the tip of her nose. Only her tail, switching rapidly back and forth, gave away her sheer exasperation.
"How. How did you do that?" she said at last, and gave herself a shake in a motion that was classically feline, sending out a fine spray of water from her hair—which immediately floofed up. Awesome. She heaved a sigh and marched over to Kaela, kneeling down beside her.
"You fool. If you'd just hold still we could've made it. C'mere, grab onto my shoulders. You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"
The water was COLD.
Oh.
Raxta looked pissed. Or maybe that was just pure exasperation.
Kaela shivered, and then looked towards Raxta, a stupid, stupid idea forming in her mind.
At Raxta's question, she shook her head.
"Nope. Alittle sore, but I'm good, I think."
An impish grin formed on Kaela's face, and then, her eyes sparkling with mischief, she splashed Raxta with all the energy she could summon.
On purpose this time.
Raxta had opened her mouth to say something—but got a full mouthful of water instead as Kaela SPLASHED HER with her whole arm! Like, the girl must have put the full force of her body behind that because it went up her nose and absolutely drenched her. It didn't help that she'd knelt down to be on her level, which put her at perfect splashing height to get her entire goddamned body.
Raxta squealed from the cold, though it soon turned into a choked, sputtering sound as she snorted water out her nose and shoved her hair out of her eyes so she could stare wide-eyed at Kaela like she was absolutely deranged. Her tail shot up, stiff and rigid and puffed out, and her claws sprang out as she held her hands in front of her in a strangling motion.
"Are you OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" she wheezed. But then, as quickly as the shock of it hit her, the absurdity of it followed. Kaela, butt-ass naked, getting a watery sneak-attack on her. What on earth?! Her claws retracted and her wheeze suddenly turned into a giggle, then full-on laughter, and she sat back on her heels and wiped water out of her face, shaking her head.
"Okay," she said at last, looking at Kaela with a wicked smile, fangs bared. "You wanna play? We can play."
And then she scooped the woman up and swiftly waded deeper into the water until it came up to her hips—and then dropped Kaela into the stream.
Damn, Raxta went through the 5 stages of grief. Raxta's reaction sent Kaela into a laughing fit.
"You...you look like a drowned cat!" She giggled, desperately trying to get ahold of herself. But every time she would finally stop laughing, she'd steal a glance at Raxta, water dripping off of her, and she'd fall right back into laughing.
And then she felt Raxta scoop her up, only to find herself dropped into deeper, colder water.
Kaela laughed.
"I bet you didn't drop me accidentally that time," and then she used both of her arms to splash Raxta.
"Damned right, that was one-hundred percent intentional!" Raxta shot back with a grin, no longer able to hide the truth as pure revenge took a turn for simple fun: she was in her element and she bloody loved water.
"Pathetic," she chided, throwing an arm up to avoid some of the spray. "Sloppy form. Let me show you how it's done." And then she went in for the kill.
Putting both arms together in a straight line, she swung them like a club through the water to send a mini tidal wave at Kaela's face.
The water got her square in the face, and she spluttered, laughing, as the water dripped down her face and her hair.
"Oh, sloppy form, is it? We'll see about that!" Kaela felt a twinge of...affection? Happiness?
And Kaela used her body to push through the water, sending a ridiculous amount of water rushing Raxta's way, and then diving below the water, a mischievous grin on her face.
Kaela sent her own tidal wave her way, and with a grin, Raxta ducked beneath the wave to swim under it, resurfacing on the other side. "Pffft, yeah, you're gonna have to do better than--"
Huh?
She blinked, looking around, because Kaela was gone. Had she pushed herself too much and somehow managed to drown in waist-deep water? Somehow, she wouldn't put it past her, the girl had talent like that! Turning in a circle, looking for her, her ears went back in alarm. "Kaela? Kaela, I swear to the gods, don't mess around with me..."
Kaela dove too fast and got a mouthful of water, but managed to surface behind Raxta, barely managing to hold in her laughter.
"I win!" She yelled, and jumped backwards into the deeper part of the water, using her feet to send a huge amount of water into Raxta, having lost control of her laughter.
This is SO stupid, Raxta thought as another wave of water hit her full in the face without her even making an attempt at dodging. Stupid, and yet...
Sputtering and shaking water out of her ears, she bared her teeth in a playful snarl. "You won? How did you win? We didn't even set a win condition!" she said, and lunged forward to hook an arm around Kaela's neck in a loose chokehold.
"Looks like you're feeling better if you're jumping around, hm?"
And then she dunked Kaela.
"I won because...because I said so," Kaela said triumphantly, carefully keeping her distance so she wouldn't get attacked with water.
But then she let down her guard and found herself in a playful chokehold, and then dunked under the water.
I deserved that, Kaela laughingly thought to herself. When they surfaced, it was Kaela's turn to shake her head and get the water out.
"Ok, ok, I take it back! What are the win conditions then?"
And she laughed, and tried to use her weight to dunk Raxta under.
"The win conditions are--" Raxta's words cut off with a squawk followed by the distinct sound of furious bubbles as Kaela shoved her head under, totally taking advantage of her distraction! Raxta flailed and splashed uselessly for a moment until she managed to wriggle free and swim under Kaela, popping up behind her.
She promptly spat a stream of water onto her head.
"As I was saying," she continued, hands on her hips and a stern expression on her face. "The win condition is...uh...hmm..." Fantastic question, actually! She looked around, finally looking further downstream where it opened up into a larger lake.
"Fastest swimmer wins. Whoever reaches the lake first."
Kaela was...erm...not the best swimmer. But as soon as Raxta finished her sentence, Kaela was off, using a backstroke to cut through the water.
"So long!" She playfully yelled.
But hidden in the trees were two bounty hunters. They had been waiting for a chance when Raxta and Kaela, their target, were apart. Now might be the best chance. But they waited.
One of them shifted to get a better view point of the lake they figured the two were headed too, and accidentally stepped on a dry branch.
Crack
"What?! Hey, you rat, wait!" Raxta snapped as Kaela just took off, just like that, when she'd barely finished! "No, no, you're supposed to—oh, whatever."
With a roll of her eyes, she gave a quick stretch, limbering up and cracking her neck and back. And she was just about to dive after her when a sharp crack from above made her ears rotate and drew her eyes toward the sound along with them. She glanced toward the trees, squinting.
But saw nothing. Just thick canopy.
Probably just a monkey.
Shrugging, she dove into the water and went after Kaela in a swift breaststroke, and was soon overtaking her.
"So long, sucker!" She yelled, but then Raxta overtook her, and Kaela just about stopped swimming, she was already tired out. But the lake was so close...and Kaela was falling behind. Kaela used her last spurt of energy to tackle Raxta as she was swimming by.
"HA! Now neither of us win!" Kaela said smugly.
"You should let the wounded one win though," Kaela said with a mock pout, breathing hard from exertion but grinning nevertheless.
Raxta yelped when she was suddenly tackled, taking in a mouthful of water in the process, and she resurfaced with a choking sputter. Glowering at Kaela--especially at her notion that the wounded one should win, as if she hadn't started this war!--she let out a snort, spraying water in the process.
"Ohh, is that how it is? You start the fight and then want mercy?"
In a sudden, quick maneuver, she pulled Kaela onto her back, gripping her under her knees to pull her legs around her waist. "I'm still winning," she said, and began to trudge through the water, barely able to touch the ground as it came up to their shoulders. But soon enough, they reached the lake, and Raxta promptly swung Kaela around and dropped her.
Well.
Kaela thought she won.
Until Raxta turned the tables on her.
Now Kaela found herself being carried through the water.
"Ok I've gotta admit, that was smooth," Kaela admitted.
"Technically I'm still winning, cus I'm in front of you still."
They made it to the lake, and Kaela got unceremoniously dropped into the water.
She was not prepared that, and fell into the water with a yelp
She surfaced shaking her head trying to get the water out of her ears, and then paused and looked at Raxta.
"Ya know...you're kindof cute for a jaguar-kin." The words came out in a rush.
Kaela took Raxta's hand and kissed it as if she was kissing a prince's, and then dove under the water again, swimming for the shore this time.
What.
What??
WHAT?!
Raxta did not think herself the type to get thrown off kilter easily, and yet somehow Kaela managed to leave her speechless. She could only stare at the human, eyes wide and mouth gaping like a dying fish, as she not only called her cute but then kissed her hand.
"I—what—you—" she sputtered uselessly, but before she could manage to herd her words into a coherent sentence, Kaela was gone again, leaving Raxta standing there staring at the rippling water where Kaela had once been, water dripping off her ears.
Her face felt unusually hot despite the cool water and she realized with slow-building horror that she was blushing.
"I—I am not cute!" she finally managed to call after Kaela as she spotted the girl swimming to shore, but there was an odd, strangled sound to the words.
Kaela stopped swimming and shot a glance Raxta's way.
"Yep. You are cute. I've said it, it's final!" She shouted, blushing herself, and sending a splash in Kaela's general direction. Then she turned and began to swim the rest of the way to the shore.
"You don't happen to have a spare change of clothes, do you?" Kaela shouted, seemingly more self conscious of the fact she herself had no clothes on at the moment.
"It's uh...not normal for my people to just walk around like, like this," Kaela gestured to herself, getting more flustered by the second.
The two bounty hunters, meanwhile, were quietly watching from the trees.
"Why are we just sitting here? The sooner we kill her, the sooner I can get the payout!" One bounty hunter complained, one hand restlessly holding a knife.
The other bounty hunter gave him a withering glare.
"We wait. We will follow them back to wherever they live. Then we'll kill both of them."
How did this happen? Why did this happen? Why her? What had she done to deserve this? Raxta let out a long-suffering sigh and glanced toward the canopy above, taking a moment to rein herself in. It wasn't the irritation she needed to get a handle on—it was the spirits-be-damned blushing.
"Whatever," she finally grumbled, hoping it came out appropriately surly instead of as flustered as she felt. More water splashed her and she barely blinked, instead watching Kaela swim to the shore before trudging begrudgingly after her.
Climbing out of the water, her own animal-skin clothes (just a basic wrap round her chest and a long loin cloth) sticking to her skin, she flicked water off her tail and shook her head to clear water from her ears. The result was a somewhat floofy Raxta as her fur and hair puffed up in response.
Kaela's question made her eyebrow arch. "I have clothes back in my den," she said with a shrug. "Not sure why you'd need them here, though?" She frowned down at her own wet clothes plastered to her body, nose wrinkling as she tugged at them. "I was planning on taking these off."
As soon as Raxta said that, Kaela's face flushed red. She felt hot all over. "Taking those off?"
"It's just-I mean, you're the most beautiful person, I mean jaguar—-jaguar kin, I've ever seen, and—-" Kaela hid her face in her hands.
"Why me? Why do you have to be so-so goddamn attractive, damn everything," Kaela muttered.
SHE SAID WHAT NOW?!
Raxta froze, her eyebrows lifted clear to her hairline and eyes saucer wide. She looked less like jaguar-kin at that moment and more like a cornered hare. Well, except for the part where she was blushing, the spots on her cheeks standing out vividly.
"You...uh...come again?"
She couldn't tell if Raxta genuinely didn't hear her the first time or just didn't believe what she heard.
Her face was still hidden in her hands, so she slowly raised her face to look at Raxta, who she noticed was blushing too.
"I said, uh, you're the most beautiful person I've ever seen—-" Damn, Kaela get it together!
She took a deep breath.
"You're attractive and—gods I've never done this before. I've never felt this before!"
And still Raxta only stared at her, blinking slowly.
"...Did the poison damage your brain?"
"I don't think so...." Kaela said cautiously.
She looked down at the ground and rubbed the back of her neck.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything," Kaela quietly said.
Would Raxta hate her now? Did Raxta hate her now?
She didn't know anything about the culture Raxta was from.
"Uhhh...right..."
Awkwardly, Raxta cleared her throat and cast a glance around the area, an excuse to look anywhere but at the naked human before her. "Right. It's...it's fine. Anyway, you want clothes, no? Maybe it's time to head back?"
Raxta may be many things, but oblivious she was not. She was picking up what Kaela was putting down—she was no shy maiden under normal circumstances—and she was also quite convinced the woman had lost her mind! Surely she wasn't in her right mind after an injury and poison-induced sleep.
It took everything within Kaela not to bolt for the den and just never come out of the den ever again. Only thing stopping her from doing that was the fact she had no idea how to get back without Raxta.
So she walked quietly next to Raxta, the quietest she had ever been.
Mentally Kaela was kicking herself. Why'd she have to go and say that?
In the distance, thunder could be heard rumbling through the clouds, and the wind was beginning to pick up, whistling through the tops of the trees.
They got back to Raxta's den. Whether it was because of the impending thunderstorm or because the sun had sunk low enough to cast the jungle into shadowy dusk, it was now quite dark. Occasional flashes of lightning could be seen through the dense jungle foliage, and Kaela uneasily muttered a curse at whichever god chose to gift the jungle with a storm. She hated, absolutely hated thunder.
Kaela ducked inside of the den and stood near the entrance, waiting while Raxta retrieved clothes.
"I...I can sleep outside"—a loud crash of thunder interrupted her sentence, and Kaela jumped, right into Raxta's arms.