Get off my lawn! [Aeyt!]

[Rhindeer]

Jayari felt her cheeks color as he showed off exactly how little use he had for anything she had to offer because yes, she was quite aware of how foolish she sounded now. There was nothing he wanted, so...guess that was that. She'd wasted everyone's time and would now have to go home and make up some dumb story about how he'd moved on or something and hope no one stumbled upon him the same way she had.

Because while she was afforded a great deal of freedom, it was only because her father trusted her not to do stupid things. This was not the first stupid thing she had done, and she did not want him to have second thoughts because his heir was unnecessarily putting herself at risk.

She was about to concede and slink away when he said something that made her perk up.

"Bear grass? Milk and cheese?" She stared at him. "Uh, yeah, duh, we have milk and cheese for days..." 

She trailed off. It hadn't even occurred to her to offer those things because it was so obvious to her that they had them and surely if it was something he wanted, it would have been the first thing he asked for since it was guaranteed they'd have it. If he was Duhjari, he would know that many of them kept goats and that were renowned for their kefir and kumis—except he wasn't Duhjari. Not really. Only in blood. She wasn't sure how much culture his mother would teach him.

"Would those be something you'd want? Because I could trade you that!"

[Aeytrious]

        "Milk and cheese are things I want. I do not need them. What I need are vegetables, roots, herbs, fruit if you have it." Now that he was interested in trade Cha was less cold, but he still didn't seem enthusiastic. He was more business like, less grumpy hermit. "My food gets me by and I've staved off scurvy, but I could use more variety and nutrition."

[Rhindeer]

"Oh, yeah, we have that, too," Jayari said slowly, and folded her arms over her chest.

"Sooo...does this mean we can maybe come to some sort of a deal? Since, as it turns out, we do have things you want—er, need," she said, unable to hide a small spark of amusement.

[Aeytrious]

        "I'll take the hares and give you three buck skins if you give your word you'll bring back plants that can be kept for long periods of time," Cha told Jayari. "Anything extra you bring I will trade you for then."

[Rhindeer]

"Deal," Jayari said, hand over her heart. "We have dried berries and beans and vegetables—those will keep for a while! We can surely spare some cheese and milk, too. We're in need of leather and weapons; we dealt with a dragon a bit ago that depleted a lot of our resources. So if that all sounds agreeable to you...well, I guess I'll grab you the hares and be outta your hair for a day."

[Aeytrious]

        "You dealt with a dragon," Cha asked perking up. "What color? Did it have a rider? Do you have the dragon? I can make good things from dragon parts."

[Rhindeer]

That was definitely the most animated she'd seen him yet, aside from the part where he was running from her and telling her to fuck off. For a second she perked with interest as well—and then deflated again at his questions.

"No, unfortunately. It got away—after killing a bunch of our goats for sport. We injured it, but only got a couple scales for all the hassle." She scowled at that, tapping her foot, still frustrated over the entire situation. "It was black and young and riderless and thoroughly awful."

[Aeytrious]

        "That's unfortunate," Cha replied. "I killed a red dragon welp and its mother. Not an Adelan dragon mind you, but it was still quite fierce." He turned to show her his left shoulder blade. There was a burn scar that had been healed partially by magic with a tattoo of a slain red dragon and its baby. "She terrorized a town and my band was hired to kill her." He pointed to a red club in his rack of weapons lined with bright white dragons teeth. "I used the welp's teeth and horn to make a dragon garland baton."

[Rhindeer]

"That's an impressive scar," Jayari admitted, studying the tattoo. "More impressive still is that it's not bigger. How'd you all pull that off?"

Was he actually...talking to her? Like a normal person and shit? It was kind of weird.

She motioned to the baton. "What would you want for something like that?"

[Aeytrious]

        "The scar was much worse and larger before our cleric healed it," Cha told Jayari. "We had thirty mercenaries to fight the dragon and her welp. We also poisoned a goat and set it out as bait. Once she ate it she was weakened." Cha walked over and picked up the baton as he continued to speak, "we followed her back to her nest and fought her there. We only lost one man." Cha swung the baton experimentally twirled it in his hand and then spoke a peculiar word. "Dumahi!" A dark red fire wreathed the bat and Cha spun it as he moved in a martial dance. After a few quick movements he spoke again, extinguishing the flame. "Nelona!" He placed it back in its spot and turned to Jayari. "I don't think there is a price you could pay for such a thing."

[Rhindeer]

Poison...bait...that was something she had never considered. Granted, they didn't encounter many dragons; they tried their best to give the beasts a wide berth.

But that wasn't a bad idea, if the fledgling decided to stay arou—

"Whoa!" Jayari yelped when the baton burst into flame, hopping back reflexively and throwing her hands up. Her heart jumped in alarm, because how?! He had not ignited it upon anything, it just lit itself! And then, just like that, with another word the flame was gone and Cha'Druku had finished showing off.

"What...how...how'd you do that?" Alright, so she was officially done being annoyed by him and the situation she was in and had officially shifted over to Fully Invested in her Curiosity. Relaxing after the initial shock, she stepped closer. "That was amazing! Was that you? Or it? Was that the dragon's flame? Is that magic? Can you do it again?" 

[Aeytrious]

        Cha felt instant regret at showing off the batons magic. He should have known better. The Duhjari didn't have access to the amount of magic or magic items that most large countries did. Their simple way of life, even among those with more magic, paled in comparison to the Serenian and Adelan mages.
        "The magic came from the baton," Cha explained. "It was enchanted by a wizard in Serendipity. As long as you know the key words anyone can use the power. I can show you more things another time. I doubt you would have anything worth trading for my magic items. Maybe a metal weapon though."

[Rhindeer]

Figured something like that would be priceless to him. Knowing she couldn't possess it didn't dampen her fascination, though.

"Serendipity...that's a 'city', right?" Jayari mused, thinking over what she knew of the world beyond the plains. It wasn't much. She shrugged the thought away.

"Do you have magic? Of your own? You flew through the air and broke the ground and moved the snow. Was that an item too? Or was that you?"

[Aeytrious]

        Serendipity. A city? Cha had figured the nomads would at least know about countries. "Serendipity is larger than the Plains, and is the Kingdom that once conquered Adela." He was growing impatient. Mention of the dragon had perked him up, but he was not interested in talking about himself or his telekinesis. "The power is my own. It's one of the many abilities that Adelans can have. And I did not fly, I simply jumped and used my power to push away from the ground. When I broke the ground I pushed down on it with my power as I ran, crushing the frozen earth." Cha moved to pick up a mug from his low table and took a drink. "How long will it take for you to return? Tomorrow? Or perhaps the day after?"

[Rhindeer]

ERK.

All the excitement and intrigue she felt came to a screeching halt, and suddenly she remembered how much she disliked him.

The power is my own. It's one of the many abilities that Adelans can have.

"You're Adelan?" she blurted, eyes narrowing. She thought he was Duhjari—but then again, he was only a quarter and had never mentioned his father. She might not be well versed in all the nations and tribes and cities of the world, but Adela was the one that everyone knew about—the ones that drove the Duhjari further into the plains and let their dragons feed on their horses.

Her interest evaporated. She remembered how he'd thieved and insulted her and held her at the point of his arrow. How had she forgotten all that just because he'd swung around a fiery bat? Jayari turned toward the tunnel.

"I can be back in a day or two. Depends on the weather. I'll get you your rabbits." And then she turned to crawl back up and fetch them, quickly so as not to spend another second in the enemy's den.

[Aeytrious]

        Cha caught that. So she didn't like that he had Adelan blood. He always thought that was interesting. The Duhjari were technically Adelans but territorial disputes pushed the horse nomads out of the country. Well he didn't care about their disputes. He didn't even know how much Adelan blood he had. His father didn't know his own origins. Such mixed and diluted blood with an untraceable background was common among mercenaries born in the life. As long as she brought him what he needed, Jayari's xenophobia was of no consequence to him. She was just a nomad after all.

[Rhindeer]

Two days passed before Jayari returned, Zala weighed down by saddlebags filled with goods. 

It was snowing lightly, the flakes blowing around her face, and through the haze of snow she could see dark clouds in the distance that spoke of later trouble. But that wouldn't be an issue for hours. There was plenty of time left in the day to get the trade over with and get back home before the weather turned—and while she would have preferred not to cut it so close, she also didn't want to leave him waiting too long.

She had intended to come the next day, but someone sighted a dragon. It wasn't close enough to identity—was it the same one or a new one?—but it was enough to warrant caution and delay the trip, just in case.

And so she stopped at the edge of Cha'Druku's den, approaching it again as she had the other day.

"Cha'Druku! It's me again, Jayari. If you're in there, come on up. I'm not carrying everything down there on my own." 

Besides, there was a chance he might not even want it all.

[Aeytrious]

        Cha was not in his front room today. In fact he was not in his cave at all when Jayari arrived. He was out collecting edible plants, and had been since that morning. He did not travel far though, as it was not advantageous to stray too far from home when the weather could turn nasty at any moment. Digging up potatoes and wild onions had proved a challenge. Luckily the stream that ran near his cave wasn't too far. Some cattails were growing along the shore up stream from the beavers he'd been trapping earlier that year. He already taken a few, but he had decided to dig up a few more. He was returning when he saw Jayari on her horse in the distance. He was not the type to call out, and she obviously had not seen him. She would arrive several minutes before him, but she could wait.

[Rhindeer]

No answer. She tried again a few times but louder, in case he was sleeping or something, but when there was still no response her annoyance (and concern) grew. He was either out doing something (likely), really deeply asleep (maybe possible? She somehow doubted it), or dead (least plausible but not impossible!).

With the snow falling and covering up tracks, there was no way to verify option number one, which left the last two—both things she could confirm.

Sighing, Jayari waited a little longer, stroking Zala's velvety nose and pulling her hood down tighter around her face to ward off the stinging flakes that were starting to come down a little harder now. Alright, so how long did she give him before she left? She couldn't wait here all day with no clue as to what was happening.

...Or what if he'd just flat out moved on? He didn't like people and he didn't like the fact that she'd found him. What if since she hadn't come yesterday, he'd just packed up and left? It sounded ridiculous even as she thought it; he had so much stuff, how would he transport it all so quickly and to where? And in this weather?

It wasn't realistic. There was no way.

But it's not impossible, whisperedher anxiety.

Shit. Couldn't argue with that.

Jayari glanced around one last time for any signs of him, then cursed under her breath, bouncing on her toes with nervous energy—and to just keep warm. Fine. Whatever. She'd just take a quick peek, just to see what was going on. If he'd packed up, she'd get her ass back home and get on with her life. If he was just out...guess she was waiting a bit longer.

And so she crawled down the tunnel again and into his living space, dusted herself off, and looked around. Everything looked to be where it should be and there was no smell of death. "You better not have croaked or something," she grumbled, intensely uncomfortable now that she was there, since she absolutely knew she shouldn't be. She stood there for a moment, then spun around to leave.

"Oookay. Uh. Right. Everything looks good. Good to know." He was just out. Of course he was. It was always the most obvious answer and she shouldn't have come down here at all.

She started to head back up.

[Aeytrious]

        Cha arrived to find a lone horse, laden with saddle bags and no rider. He knew it was Jayari's horse, but he wasn't sure he'd heard the horses name. That was fine though. He didn't need to know the horses name to pay its neck and feed it some dried berries from his pocket. She was a good horse. She only nickered a little as he approached. She sniffed his outstretched hand, and then took the berries he offered as he patted her neck. Cha could hear Jayari crawling out of the tunnel. She'd be out soon. In the meantime, he inspected her bow and arrows. The craftsmanship was good, but lacked refinement. Perhaps knowledge was another thing he could trade to her tribe.