Harvest Moon

[Lion]

[Sorry!  Short post is short!]

"You only slightly misunderstand me," Theon said, grinning at her.  "It is perfect in it's own creation, because it was made to be that way.  Not because it is symmetrical.  Take our existence for example.  Nobody is perfect because we do things flawlessly.  We are perfect in our imperfection.  That we only improve with life, perhaps we falter from time to time, but if we press on, find our nich in life, at last we might achieve our own perfection.  For it is truly in the eye of its beholder."

Theon looked at her and noticed then how beautiful she was, and he was smiling for a time, ony to blush at his own inspection, turning his eyes to the path ahead.  Her eyes in particular were remarkable.  "I see you are looking at my blade," he continued.  "If you are a hunter and intend to help me find this beast, how are you prepared for such combat when the moment arises?  How quickly could you dispatch an opponent in the heat of battle?"

[Elapheesa]

She was lost in his conversation for a moment, his own manner could be as poetic and hypnotic as her own.  He too seemed to be a thinker and this likeness with her own tendency to speak of things that others would consider isignificant was intoxicating.  It was only when he returned conversation to how she would cope when faced with the beast that his charming smile disappeared and the spell like quality of his counternance was broken.

"I suppose" she said returning to more practical considerations than snowflakes and human flaws "I will do whatever I need to do.  In these situations you can be prepared, have weapons at the ready but much of it becomes instint.  I often replay a hunt back in my mind and consider my actions and the way in which a beast more than twice my weight was brought to its death so swiftly.  Sometimes it takes a few minutes for my heart to slow and mind to stop racing after a more difficult kill and I wonder how I achieved it." Her words rang true as she spoke of experience not imaginings.  "A warrior is trained to weild a weapon or several of choice.  Knows how to swing a sword and the art of sword play perhaps, or has trained to use knives in combat, anticipating an oponents moves and how to defend against those and use other well practiced moves to attack.  I am not a warrior.  In combat with another human I would only be able to draw on my hunting skills." She paused and looked at his sword again and then pulled from her left boot one of her knives.  She played with it in her hands transfering it from one hand to the other in movements so well rehearsed that they were fluid and seemed as natural as her taking one step in front of the other to walk.  "We all have weaknesses, but I do not think being a huntress not a warrior will be my downfall in pursuing this or any beast, it is an animal after all." She said hoping there might be a little more information for him to share.  "An animal not a man with weapons to aim at my throat.  It is animals I pursue and kill.  Yes you hunt it with intent to retaliate  after it killed those caravaners but it should die the same way as the other beasts I hunt for food, skin, fur and fuel." She was practical, yes she could speak of things as though she were a philospoher but those thoughts did not prevent her survival instinct and understanding that basic needs had to be met. Surviving here was about doing just that: meeting needs.  Life was precious still to her but animal life was a commodity, a source for things she needed. 

She didn't want to seem over confident, nor flippant about what they would face. She was trying to be optomistic, there was no point entering into battle with a beast or man if doing so with the outlook that certain death laid ahead.  "When I hunt caribou, musk oxen, fox, hare even bear I never know how easy the beast will be to bring down.  They are after all, like us... they don't want to die.  No animal, unless injured or ill gives up it's life with ease. " She added the knife in her hand swiveling about in the centre of her palm without wobbling before her fingers grasped its hilt once more.  "This knife is bone, sharp like a claw, it enters the thicest of hides swiftly if you get the angle right.  I am not without hope am I Theon?" she asked smiling at him.  "Do not worry for me.  You will do what you do and I will do what I can" she added though in truth and not by intention she could not help fear for him already.  Though she was trying to push such thoughts to the back of her mind she wanted no harm to come to him.  Perhaps she had been foolish to enter into this hunt after all.

[Lion]

Theon listened to her with a hardened but thoughtful expression, understanding all her points.  He'd met hunters in the forest before and when the tension of friend or foe was gone between them, they were much like her, willing to share their camps and their food with weary travelers.  But the difference between then and here was that the distance between this Wild and civilization was vastly significant.  A single step could mean the matter of life and death and the ability to hunt and hunt well was important.  And whether she knew it or not, his eyes showed that he valued everything she had to say when it came to her skill and ability to find and kill this creature.

"I respect your experience," he said, nodding to her as he watched her bone blade pass between hands.  "Because I have nothing much to offer in that regard.  These lands are more than foreign to me and among the most treacherous I've walked across.  But I wish I could tell you without the shadow of a doubt that the creature we hunt really is an animal.  Then I would have little to worry about.  Not quite because of you but because of the uncertainty which lies before us.  But battling an animal versus battling a man is little different; perhaps the only way you might defend yourself against him would be to become an animal yourself.  At the very heart it is survival.  Not of the fittest, nor even of the most skilled, but of the smartest.  You have a weapon in your mind, don't be afraid to use it.  And I can see already that you do. "  He grinned at her warmly as they kept on.  He then turned his eyes to the distance, trying to scan the horizon line amidst the soft flurry that fluttered down around him.  He turned his head to the black and gray form of the hooded crow on his shoulder and nodded to him.

The bird gave a soft caw before flying off ahead in the distance, taking to the sky and eventually disappearing into the snow.  "Jouzan and I," he explained.  "Have a particular connection.  I will see what he sees as he scouts ahead.  If there is danger, he will warn us.  We –"  Theon paused suddenly the as his eyes spotted something on the ground and he immediately shot out an arm across Elepheesa's chest to stop her as well.  "Wait," he said, retracting his hand as he knelt in the snow.

Before him were small prints, light and not quite recent, but appeared quite human.  Instinctively, Theon drew the fur from his shoulders and held it out over the few prints present before him to keep the snow from filling it.  "Feet!" he exclaimed.  "They go that way!  East I believe, but perhaps it is northeast.  Should we follow them?  Perhaps they might lead to another camp.  Asking questions would be better than wandering in this expanse quite aimlessly."

[Elapheesa]

His bird flew on ahead, she watched it soar off until his outline in the white sky above them became faint and silently disappeared.  As Theon spoke of how he saw what the bird saw she felt a tinge of jealousy at their bond and the incredible feeling having a kindred spirit like that must bring.

She had expected Theon to confess his uncertainty as to whether or not the beast who had killed the caravaners was human or not, she had sensed that possibility from the beginning but had not wanted to voice it.  She would not allow herself to think on this yet.  An animal killing those people was not a pleasant thought but was not out of the ordinary either, they need to eat, people are food.  Or perhaps it had been fearful for its life, or they had hunted it and their deaths had been the beast defending itself, fighting for its survival. An animal she could understand, it would still be a terrible thing and a dangerous beast to allow to continue roaming the ice.  A human though, even a semi-human was a far more sinister possibility for a human, even a part human would have killed following some thought process... they would have chosen to kill.  Even if threatened a human or part human would have known such vicious killing was unnecessary.  For a moment she flashed back to the scene she had discovered with Theon kneeling down in the snow and bodies ripped apart, insides on the outside, empty cavities in their chests, total devastation.  "Let us hope the beast is not human" she said before joining Theon as he crouched on the snow sheltering his discovery so that she might see it too.

"You're right" she said looking at the foot print Theon protected.  It was obviously human, as he had concluded.  Two feet, larger than her own, most likely a male's.  The footprints at least two inches embedded into the snow, which had allowed them to remain visible even though their owner was no where in sight.  Such a depth of imprint suggested the man who made these footprints was heavier rather than slight in build.  Theon wanted to follow the prints and she could not deny that made sense since they were currently pursuing the beast without any clue to its definite path.  "We shall" she said looking for the next set of prints and then taking fast strides, "we should hurry they will soon be covered".

Walking much faster now, aware she could tire but filled with adrenaline which allowed her to ignore her aching muscles she followed the trail ahead, sometimes barely visible in the snow staring at the white causing her eyes to flash and requiring her to shut them momentarily so that she might overcome the bright light.  "We don't know whose footprints we follow" she said looking over her shoulder to her companion who was following her closely.  "It may be a hunter, but even then that might pose a threat". 

She said no more but she would prepare herself should they encounter a hunter she did not know.  She had been hesitant for many years about getting too close to other hunters.  The males away from their wives and families for months on end out here had needs that they did not like to ignore.  The isolation made them mad and if not crazy it made them less human.  She had seen men look at her as though assessing her usefulness and it was not a feeling she enjoyed.  She was worth no more to them than an animal.  From animals they took meat, from her they would take pleasure.  A sole hunter would not be too much of a danger, she was quick on her feet and able to defend herself against one man, particularly if he had made camp and was drinking but males seldom hunted alone and more than one, the idea of a group made her shudder. 

Theon seemed so energised at seeing the footprints and finally having a trail to follow she would allow him to relish this and not bring doubts or fears to his mind.

[Lion]

He didn't need to be told twice.  At her insistence to follow the prince before the snow flutter covered them, immediately he stood and shook off the fur, threw it over his shoulders and secured it.  Within seconds he was on the trail as well.  She'd gone off a little ahead of him and Theon stayed behind, his hand on his blade just in case the matter rose that it needed to be drawn.  But he swallowed a growing knot in his throat and hoped to whatever gods there may be that he didn't have to.

As they pressed onward, they came toward a small thicket of trees, and the tracks seemed scattered and went all over the place until eventually disappearing in the softness of rumpled snow nearby.  The air was quiet, too quiet sans for the soft billows of their breath that came on white clouds.  Theon stood beside Elepheesa, waiting.  It wasn't until he heard a suddenly whistling in the air, the sound of steel singing on wind did he turn around, unsheathing Lohengrin as he went and there was a small spark of metal to metal as he struck the blade that was aimed at Elepheesa's face with expert precision, knocking the blade to the ground.

"Get out of here!" A voice wailed.  It was that of a man's and he seemed well hidden in the snow.  "Get away from here!  I'm warning you."  In the distance, Theon could see a man sitting by a tree, half-buried in snow and he stood up, or tried to anyway, leaning against that tree, holding a hunting knife in his hand, while his other hung uselessly to the side.  "I-I mean it!" he cried hoarsely.  "I'll gut you like a fish."

Theon stepped forth, holding Lohengrin before him,  then saw around the man were the dead bodies of his two companions, slumped in the snow, torn and slashed as if attacked by an animal.  And around them the remains of a makeshift camp.  There was another man, moving in his bloodied furs, clutching his stomach but otherwise alive. He looked at the two approaching and paled in response, unable to mutter words, only groans of pains.

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!" the wounded hunter cried out.  "My brothers know I'm gone.  They'll be coming any moment!"  He moved closer to his last living companion, his useless arm dangling to the side and knelt down in front of him between Theon  and Elepheesa.   "You'll be okay, Madack.  You'll be all right!  Stay with me!"

Theon stood warily, but kept his blade point pointed toward the snow.  "What happened here?"

[Elapheesa]

Elapheesa had heard it said that silence could be deafening and in the situation she found herself in she could see why.  The air was quiet, the snow was falling softly without sound, and there was a lack of any noise as they stood side by side waiting. Then that silence changed to the clinking of metal against metal so swiftly that it didn't seem possible it had ever been silent at all.  The blade momentarily in her face was struck away; Theon had acted without pause and defended her.  The attacking blade landed in the snow a few feet from her and she instinctively dropped low and rolled over retrieving it and taking it in her own hand turning the attacking blade into that with which she could and would  defend herself.

The wailing voice giving them warning to move on and leave this place was male.  Elapheesa looked around to find the origin of the voice and saw a man well hidden in the snow, not entirely visible and therefore still mysterious.  There was briefly time to decide whether he was the perpetrator  or one of the victims of this attack. The warnings to leave continued along with threats to attack them, even gut them like fish but strangely Elapheesa felt nothing, numbed to what she was hearing, numbed to any fear it was just confusion that filled her mind and made her thoughts rapid though fruitless was this man innocent?  Was he at fault?  The man yelling threats had stood, more visible now but shielded by the tree so not entirely clear.  His voice was hoarse, rough, and husky and becoming more and more frantic.
 
She watched Theon step forward holding his sword out in front of him bravely and it was not that she didn't share the same bravery but she was still undecided at what situation they had discovered.  Around this man shouting threats at them were bodies, two other men laying dead in the snow and as brutally killed as Theon's companions from a day earlier.  Slashed, torn, ravished before death, it was another macabre scene.  Their camp was now mere remnants of skins and furs, broken tent supports and belongings cast all about.  Then from the mess and destruction came yet another man, his clothing blood covered; his hands pressing onto his stomach covering a large wound which ran with blood despite his hands clinging to it.  He did not speak but groaned out and looked at Elapheesa with sorrowful eyes, disbelief at what had befallen him. 

The wounded hunter was crying out again and Theon's eyes were focussed on him, Elapheesa did not take her eyes from the other injured man.  "You'll be okay, Madack.  You'll be all right!  Stay with me!" the hunter said speaking to his injured friend now before moving over to him and dropping to his knees.

Theon stood warily, but kept his blade point pointed toward the snow.  "What happened here?" He said questioning the survivors.

The men were clearly in shock, whatever had attacked them had done so swiftly.  Elapheesa had not moved, she remained focussed on the injured man aware her gaze was having a calming effect on him and now she softly, slowly moved towards him.  Her breathing consistently slow she inhaled, held the cold air in her lungs and then exhaled looking at him, saying nothing but showing compassion in her facial expression.  Her soft mouth gently smiling and to still his frantic, erratic friend she dropped the weapon she had picked up in a gesture to persuade their trust.  Reaching the injured man she held out her hands and then slowly she tore her own tunic to press into his wound in attempt to stop the bleeding.  Her other palm against his cheek as she looked into his eyes and gave a hopeful smile.  The injured man became calm in spite of his pain and Elapheesa's deliberate and controlled serenity brought peace to him in his final moments.  She watched his grimace and fear disappear as his face relaxed and  his clenched fists released allowing his fingers to uncurl as the rest of his body became floppy and sank into the snow.  He stared at her as she heard the death rattle from his chest,  "Find bliss and dwell forever there" she said as he exhaled for the last time. 

She closed his eye lids and turned to look at Theon.  Her look was brief for she felt a hand grab her wrist roughly and heard  screaming close to her ears.  The man's desperate, fingers squeezing her wrist, twisting around and causing the blood in her veins to thump close to the surface it's flow prevented.  "He has passed" she said to reassure the crazed survivor.  His passing was done at ease, he had found peace" she continued reassuringly  remaining slow and steady, quietly spoken. 

"What happened?" she asked again lifting her arm slowly to remind the man that he grasped her wrist so tightly.  "It has happened before and it will happen again unless you help us".  The man let go of her wrist throwing his hands to the ground letting out a shrill cry of sorrow, before clasping both his hands to his face and sobbing loudly into his hands.  "A beast, a thing of darkness" he said and shuddering and crying loudly he collapsed into her body causing her to wrap her arms around him and to cover him in her fur.

"He is in shock" she said beckoning Theon closer.  We must get him warm, move him away from... " she didn't say bodies but her eyes indicated her meaning.  "He wont talk unless he can regain his composure." 

[Lion]

Theon stood back and watched the display unable to do much but offer witness to the pain of the severely wounded hunter as he clutched his wounds.  He sheathed his sword as a show of peace and the hunter calmed considerably as his eyes bore into Theon's, wild, frantic, almost as if he would die of madness before anyone would come and end his miserable life.  Theon couldn't help but feel sorry for the man, but it was quite clear what happened here, and what had passed through.  It only saddened him to find more victims of the beast they hunted.

He looked over at the bodies of his companions, torn apart much like the caravaners, except these seemed to be more or less killed with a hunger for blood and suffering than because they were used as substance for survival.  He could see teeth had sunk in here and there, claws cut away at some meat, but the bodies were more or less in tact in terms of what was most suitable to eat.  If anything he considered if they hadn't found this hunter sooner, he might have been forced to eat his brethren in the midst of his madness and suffering.

Theon cast his eyes back to Elepheesa as she tried to help the one most severely injured and he would have shed a tear of sorrow had not the icy wind tore at his eyes and made him blink them away and dried them out.  He squinted and watched with solemnity as the man at last succumbed to his wounds and fell limp in the snow.  Perhaps he ought to have used Lohengrin then, ought to have made him hold the blade that he might ease his suffering.  But it was eased enough when at last death came to take the man home to whatever beyond existed from this place of mortal suffering.

The other hunter it seemed couldn't take it and when he howled in the snow, trying to move even his obviously broken arm, he soon slumped himself against Theon's companion, beside himself with grief and trauma.  Even his answer couldn't quite clarify what Theon already knew.  "Wait a moment," Theon said, remaining calm, despite the man's state, which only reminded him of how he felt when he saw the slaughtered remains of the people he traveled with.  "It is not an easy thing to take in," Theon said softly, not speaking specifically to the man.  "To watch the people you knew alive and well only moments ago.  Particularly those who were your friends and then suddenly have them stripped of their lives so brutally.  So callously.  But understand, there is always help.  We will take this man to the nearest settlement and get him to proper health and care.  There is only so much we can do out here."  That last part referred to Elepheesa.  There was a tranquility in watching her cradle the man, trying to keep him calm even as his tears threatened to remain frozen against his face.

"Here," Theon said, pulling his sword from his belt and slipping the hilt into the man's hands.  "Don't fight it.  Just breath."  Suddenly the wounded hunter felt his frantic state begin to momentarily subside.  Elepheesa would be able to feel it reverberate through her, the hunter's decreasing heartbeat and his physical trembles begin to subside as he felt calming waters wash over him and when he felt he could sustain his own weight he pulled back from her for a moment, just holding on to her shoulder, letting go of Lohengrin.  Theon grinned and resheathed the sword.  He moved closer to the hunter and put his good arm over his shoulders and coaxed him to stand, helping him move, his other arm just dangling, no more than dead weight.

"Elepheesa, perhaps it might do to cover these bodies.  We won't go far, just through the trees a little ways before I prepare a fire.  The winds are not strong.  Come along then, easy there.  Jouzan..." he called out to the sky.  "Now would be a good time to come back."

As they moved through the trees and settled away from the bodies, the hunter sat down against a tree and within a few minutes Jouzan's dark and gray form fluttered to the ground with a dead hare in his claws.  At least then they would have something fresh to eat.

[Elapheesa]

Theon's sword, that's all she could think about as she went about covering the bodies.  What she did was of respect for their lives though as much as she knew feeling sadness would be natural she still felt barely anything, she was so numbed to death.  She didn't know these men, their bodies looked no different to her than that of perished, nearly frozen boar.  When a life is gone what remains is just a carcass, the vessel that once contained life once empty cast away. Their bodies covered she returned to the trees no more than a hundred yards from the scene of devastation.

Theon's arm was held aloft as his bird flew down through the trees above, a canopy of branches that would give them good cover tonight as they rested.  The birds beak gripped tight around a hare, they would eat fresh meat. 

She said very little. Theon was now host, he had taken the role of leader naturally and without discussion.  She did not fight that.  They were two individuals linked only through her choice to accompany him on this rather unusual hunt, but a hunt never-the-less.  No doubt once found the beasts end would ultimately be their parting.  She thought it best to distance herself from Theon to prevent that parting having any lingering affect on her.  She was stronger as a solitary woman she reminded herself of that. 

At least she was useful in this situation.  She could make camp for them all with no more difficulty than making camp for herself alone.  Tent posts (bone of course, though those she had carried for several months not fresh from the dead) dug into the snow and skins tightly stretched over them and bound their sanctum was once again prepared.  While she did this she allowed herself occasional glances at Theon and their new companion, his arm damaged but after touching the sword he was otherwise in remarkably good health.  No sooner had she looked though then Theon's sword returned to her thoughts again and remained there whilst she collected the hare from beside the proud bird and prepared food for them all.

Whale fat burned well when in oil form and poured over some of the dryer thin branches she had pulled down from the thin but tall trees above them a fire was made that would at least be sufficient to cook the hare. 

The task of cooking out here was simple but required care as to not allow waste or flames to scorch meat and ruin the mediocre food available.  As her work was not taxing she had opportunity to let her thoughts return to his sword again.  She looked at her hands, her arms and closed her eyes for a moment remembering how they had felt when the stranger had grasped Theon's blade.  The vibrations that had moved through the stranger and then through her bones. The way her blood had felt hot in her veins.  The way her heart had almost leapt out of her chest and then the feeling afterwards.  As though her whole body had lurched forward with such force that it felt she could explode with renewed energy.  What magic was this?  She knew little of Theon in that moment he became all mysterious to her again.  She could predict the way he would walk around a portion of ice, anticipate the way he would sit in the tent that evening but knowing anything of him, she could profess to knowing no more than the stranger now sitting with him. 

Not only that... this beast they sought was nothing like she had known before.  The bodies this time revealed much more about the beast.  There were more of them that would have been difficult to attack in this number and  could not have been attacked as part of normal feeding, not so soon after the last camp was ripped apart.  Arms were thrown about like twigs.  Bodies split open and organs disguarded as though drained of the blood that had powered them but not eaten.  There was plenty of meat on these men, big, strong hunters.  The beast that had killed them was not after meat that was certain.  What would kill this way and not consume the flesh?  What was Theon chasing?  What did he know?  She wanted to feel she knew all he did but there was still doubt in her mind.  More and more the feeling that whatever did this thought about it, planned it ... as though part human became more likely to her.

She had to trust Theon, he seemed so good, so caring, more so than she.  He had promised this man help and she knew he would fulfill his promise.  She could not say she behaved in such an unselfish way as he did.  "There is always help" that is what Theon had said to the stranger.  Always?  There is always help.  How different Theon's experience was to her own.  How wonderful to have that hope.  Elapheesa helped herself, that was her only surety. 

"We will take this man to the nearest settlement and get him to proper health and care.  There is only so much we can do out here."  That's what Theon had said and she had nodded to him. She didn't speak there was so much on her mind, so much yet within her body that felt strange... his sword had left a mark, invisible and no doubt temporary but still she felt strange.

With the hare cooked and ready to eat she took out three basic pots and shread the meat in her fingers ripping every last strand from the bone, wasting nothing.  The best she gave to the stranger putting the bowl in his hands gently holding her fingers on top of his for a moment before moving away and passing Theon's bowl to him barely lifting her eyes to his as she gave him his food.  They ate in relative silence.  The food much needed tasted wonderful and lifting flakes of meat from her bowl she offered them to Theon's loyal bird saying his name softly "Jouzan eat, your hunt, your reward". 

More branches were thrown on to the fire. It seemed reasonably safe to allow it to burn outside, the trees offered some protection from animals seeing the flames from a distance and she did not feel the need to rush inside the tent the evening yet young.  Outside she could afford a little distance between Theon and herself.  Time to contemplate all that had happened.

[Lion]

Theon had set the man to the side and he was quite renewed once again once the fire had started.  He was quite amazed and watched with a fleeting fascination how deftly Elepheesa moved about fashioning the tents with such expert handiwork and that only reminded him of the canvas flap that had taken to the wind only yesterday as his companions had made came for that night.  For a moment he took time to wonder what might have been done differently, perhaps if they'd picked up a different stop to make camp, if only they'd kept walking for a another hour or so, or maybe made camp sooner.  Maybe if Theon hadn't gone to sleep that night.  But the weariness in his bones had been too much for even Lohengrin to soothe away entirely and he had no choice but to slump into his own tent.

If only...

But he couldn't let himself think on it.  He looked over to Elepheesa again as she worked.  She seemed so capable of coping with such trauma, with such devastation, and despite his own words, of course Theon had his doubts.  Things didn't always go the way one planned.  And he knew that if Elepheesa had not shown up when he did, he could have very well have been dead, to shocked in the snow to find the strength to go on.  Yet there was more that seemed to concern him and when he studied her features as she worked, even as he tended to the man, setting his arm, which only seemed sore now as the winced here and there and only screamed once, he could plainly see that she fought to hide her emotion under a veil of seeming apathy.  No human could shield themselves from the force of their emotions forever.  He knew that something lurked underneath, that she would not reveal, something she was hiding, or preferred not to deal with.  Like when he mentioned her lack of family.  Maybe she tried to be so nonchalant about it but it only made it that much more apparent.

As the food was finished being prepared and was at last served to their momentary guest, the hunter's hands wavered as he took the bowl Elepheesa offered him, the meatiest portions of the hare.  The man thanked her and huddled in his old furs as he sat crosslegged before the smoking fire.  He ate with an unsteady hand, and that was when Theon reached out to help him ease the portion into his mouth.  He gave a nod of thanks.  But as Theon reached for his own bowl, he noticed how she gave it to him so impersonably and he just stared at her as she went on to feed scraps to Jouzan.  The bird remained silent, but he could have sworn he saw the hooded crow grin at Theon in a mocking gaze.

He squinted his eyes and at in silence for a moment, the hare, tough but well-cooked and he was happy to see nothing would go to waste.  He set the portion in his lap, looking over at the hunter as he was halfway finished.  "Madack was having a son," he muttered, staring into his food, eating slowly.  "His woman was thick with child, plus the two daughters she bore him.  Now they'll never know how great their father was."

Theon was silent as he listened, glancing over to Elepheesa.  "You were his friend, you would want the best for him," Theon murmured.  "We will help take you back to your village.  Isn't that right Elepheesa?"  He looked over at her, meeting her gaze. 

The hunter kept eating slowly.  "I am Tarn.  Madack was my cousin, bloodkin of the small village of Sa'Dihm, west of Hyoite.  We were to trek there on our hunt, looking for big game to trade in  Hyoite and trek back.  We made it to the village.  The way back was...so much longer colder than we remembered.  On the first night we made camp on the tundra, two of us awake at a time while the others slept, to keep watch of raiding wolves and any other beasts.  Madack remembered hearing something on the wind, strange howling, loud, almost...mournful.  But the night was uneventful.  We packed up traveled east once more to Sa'Dihm.  The second night, it was my turn to keep watch.  It was late into the night when I heard the same howling Madack had claimed to hear, but I thought it only to be wolves.  I saw a few of their eyes in the dark, warded them off with fire.  The night passed, until I saw another pair of eyes that almost seemed like a wolves...but they had a strange hue to them, and they appeared only when the wolves passed.  I heard their scurrying across the snow.  The night had gone then and we traveled to this patch of trees, knowing were about maybe fifty miles due east of our village.  We stopped for the night....  That was when – WHEN!"

Tarn stopped them and doubled over yet again, breathing hard but not crying, trying to recollect himself.  He seemed to lose his appetite then and set the bowl of food to the side.  After a few minutes of not touching it, Jouzan hopped around and stealthily pulled it away with his beak to eat what remained.  But Theon was transfixed on the man and put a hand on his shoulders until he was able to collect himself again. 

"It all happened so fast.  I-I remember I was sleeping.  Samak and Sulla were keeping watch, and it was just me and Madack to rest.  I heard the howling, but I couldn't let it bother me, so I kept asleep, but I could hear Sulla's voice grow vaguely concerned.  He told Samak to check it out.  I...I opened my eyes and saw him standing at the edge of the camp looking out into the dark when I saw the same eyes from the night before flicker open and before I knew it Samak was pulled into the darkness and all we could hear were his screams!  We all jumped up by then, grabbed our spears, our knives, anything we had on hand and pulled kindling from the fire as he rushed out to his aid.  We called for him, but all that remained were his bones and body torn open like something was ripped out of him!

"I only remember vague glimpses.  White fur.  Gods above, it moved so fast.  And came at us around our backs.  Claws tore through Sulla and soon Madach was gutted through with hands that looked like claws.  I saw it then before me as I tried to reach my cousin in time, it's face was...covered in that white fur painted here and there with red specks of blood.  It was twice the size of a man, arms long and powerful.  It had a monstrous face, deep eyes that bored into me, shocked me until he threw out and arm and sent me reeling into a tree, shattering my arm.  I was still in the snow.  Perhaps it thought me dead...I don't know."  Tarn's face was teary-eyed then and he kept his eyes staring into the fire.

Theon didn't know what more to say except that he looked for Elepheesa to say something.  Anything to break the silence after the tale Tarn just told.  And after a while, he kept his eyes to his companion and asked, "Do you know the way to Sa'Dihm?"

[Elapheesa]

Elapheesa enjoyed watching the bird eat, simple pleasure could be taken in his cheeky personality.  His character amused her and she was relieved she could still feel humor and allow herself to smile at his playful nature despite the seriousness of the situation and continuing death that surrounded them.

"We will of course take you to Sa'Dihm" she said looking to Tarn and managing to avoid Theon's gaze still.  Tarn's face was red from the cold but now his cheeks glistened with fresh running tears, it would be best to get him inside the tent and allow him to rest.  The snow was no place for tears.

She took a new flask from her sledge, a drink would ease his journey to sleep and would do no harm to the pain he was in due to his injured arm.  She walked towards him crouching between his legs, her thigh peaking out from under the thick, fur coat that covered her.  "Drink?" she said placing the flask in his hands and again wrapping her own fingers around his as she eased the flask to his lips and he drank.  The flask was full but when he finally pulled it from his lips three quarters of the warming liquid within was gone.  Tarn had obviously decided to drink his way to oblivion hoping for a dreamless sleep, a sleep free from any nightmares of what had happened in his camp that evening.  As his arms fell floppy and his body looked heavy Elapheesa draped his arm over her shoulder and spoke whilst looking at him with her gentle smile, her face close to his face whispered him to stand as she ushered him to his sleeping roll and assisted him in laying down.  He fell into a deep slumber as soon as his head made contact with the piled fur that Elapheesa had fashioned into a pillow for him.  She covered him rubbing his back a few times and whispering words once uttered to her as a child to wish him deep, replenishing sleep.  She lingered in the tent, all to aware of Theon outside and not ready yet to deal with the realities of the person that had become her companion out in the snow and the mysteries that seemed to surround him making him no more familiar to her now then when they had met.  She lit a fire, allowing whale oil to burn in a pit within the tent and ensuring the thin white smoke coming off the flames had a pathway out of the roof of the tent she took another fur to warm herself as she returned outside.

"Are you ready for sleep?" she asked... not aiming her words directly at Theon but masking her question as though she could have been asking an answer of the bird rather than his master.
" We will make for Sa'Dihm in the morning.  It is not far from here.  We will make an exchange of goods there if we can.  I have much preserved fish, salted and ready for trade.  We'd best acquire more liquor, oil for fires, perhaps traps" she suggested though still her eyes did not look towards Theon's instead she gazed into the dying flames of the outdoor camp fire.

"We will leave Tarn to be restored to health, physical if not mental" she said knowing that the poor man in the tent would probably never recover from being the only survivor of the attack, "And then, I take it you will want to return here and continue our search for the beast.  We should be able to walk to Sa'Dihm within 3 or 4 hours if the weather does not change and we meet with no obstacle.  An hour to achieve all that we need and we could be venturing off  once more before noon" she added.  She was resourceful, practical, efficient as always but now the friendliness and personal approach to which she had spoken to him before had gone.  The Elapheesa that shared with him her thoughts on snowflakes and appreciating what others found mundane had closed herself to him as though shutting a door within herself and locking away that which at her heart made her unique, made her Elapheesa and not just any other hunter in the snow.

"What magic do you carry with you?" she said as if breaking the silence between them like shattering glass, the air almost vibrating towards him with her words.  "Your sword?" she said and finally her eyes met his.  "Who are you?  What are you? " she turned before he could answer. 

"I ought not to ask" she said tilting her head to the heavens and realising the canopy of tree branches above their heads almost entirely masked the night sky above which meant there would be no light was the flames died.

The fire outside the tent finally puffed out and they were suddenly in total darkness.  Shaking her head she inhaled slowly and exhaled as though letting go of all her worries.  In the darkness her hand took Theon's.  "We should move inside the tent" she said waiting for him to rise to his feet. She would not leave him alone in the darkness.  Whatever he was, whoever he was, whatever magic throbbed inside his sword she had committed herself to aid him in finding this beast, she would not go back on her word.

[Lion]

Theon could feel the tension building in the air, in the small things she did and the things she deliberately chose not to do.  His sensitivity was piqued as Elepheesa offered her flask to the hunter.  Yes, sleep was a good idea after all he'd been through and it would do him well to return him to his family, though perhaps with less company in tow.  And he noticed her gentle care that had once been offered to him was now given to Tarn as he drank heavily and Theon couldn't help but grin in amusement when he was suddenly overcome with fatigue.  And she somehow managed to drag his limp heavy body from the fireside and to the bedroll inside the warmth of the tent.

Theon kept his eyes to the slowly dying fire, the embers flicking and licking at the what fuel remained, hungry, wanting.  He needed to take his mind from the monster they were hunting, if only to find solace from his restless dreams.  As Jouzan had finished his meal, he hopped over to Theon and gave a soft caw.  Theon brushed his hand to the bird's breast feathers.  "I already know what you're going to ask," Jouzan said softly.  "No I found nothing more scouting north of us, not a sign of the beast, not a hair out of place.  The tundra is an empty canvas of white.  Seemingly devoid of life."

Theon furrowed his brow.  "There's got to be something nearby," he replied, his voice low to be kept between him and his bird.  "Some clue.  I can't go on testimony alone.  Even what I'd seen wasn't enough.  There has to be something more."  He sighed and ducked his head against his chest.  Jouzan fluttered to his shoulder and pecked his ear making Theon wince. 

"Look around you, Theon.  Clues lie abound.  Even if Tarn's words are all there is to go on, that is better than nothing.  We might be further than we hope, but we are closer than we were." Jouzan cackled and gave Theon another peck on his ear, just in case he missed the point.

Damn the bird if he wasn't right.  He could not waste his thoughts on the 'what-ifs', only what had actually happened.  And they'd come a long way from the tattered camp he would have died in.  It was then that his eyes looked back to the tent where Elepheesa was putting Tarn to sleep.  His mind lingered on her, sensing her sudden change in attitude, from how she had been upon first meeting.  He wondered why she felt the need to shelter herself beneath her hardy exterior.  He couldn't help but think what might have happened to cause her to develop a need for her cloak of apathy.  Perhaps it was merely survival instinct, but Theon couldn't shake his gut feeling that it had to be something more. 

"Are you ready for sleep?"  He heard her voice ask behind him.  Theon turned then but found she still avoided his gaze.  Jouzan, however, was more than happy to leave his side and flew from his shoulder out to the open tent flap, appreciative of the warmth within.

Theon gave a shy nod at her explanation of their plans for tomorrow.  Night was falling fast and though he wasn't exactly tired, he knew he should get all the rest he could before they headed out at first light.  He rose to stand, but was caught off guard by her sudden question.  He blinked at her for a moment, but was not offended by it.  It showed in his stance when at last he did stand and she took his hand softly to lead him from the darkness.  The fire faded at long last and the only light came from the tent within.  He watched her features caught in the shadow, their contrasts stark and angular.

His own fared no better as he looked down at her, the violet amidst the red of his eyes glittered from it.  But his smile was fairly soft as he took her hand in both of his.  "I never said you couldn't ask.  If you want to know, by all means.  But I'm afraid you're quickly finding that I don't have all the answers.  That magic, that you called it, is from the sword itself.  I don't know what it is or why, but when you hold it, it makes you feel...so calm, ready for anything.  It stems into your very being.  It feels strange at first, but if you let it, it can make you feel invigorated.  I remember I called it Lohengrin.  But I'm not sure why.

"You see, I've been traveling these lands for nearly two years now, searching for answers to a question I'm not sure I can answer.  I'm not sure who I am, frankly.  Let's get inside.  I will tell you more."

As they finally did get inside the tent, Theon sat across from her, face to face so that it wouldn't be so easy for her to look away from him.  "It is difficult to explain.  But in the simplest way, the first thing I remember was waking up on a ship, bound for Serendipity, that is a country to the south of this cold place.  I woke up, not remembering anything before that.  I didn't even know my name until I heard people call that to me, so I took it upon myself to adopt it.  And the blade at my side, Lohengrin.  I found Jouzan when we neared the shore.  He came the night before we docked.  I didn't understand what I was doing there, or why I'd come to those lands.  I thought perhaps I might try to find some fragment of who I am, where I came from, where I belong, but I've traveled all this time and found nothing.  I'm sorry if the uncertainty of my being scares you.  It scares me too.  But I do know that I am as real as you are."

Theon reached forward then and grabbed her hand and pressed it to the cooling metal of his cuirass that she might feel the beating of his heart as it pounded in his chest.  "See?  My heart beats just the same as yours.  I hope that helps put your mind at ease.  I mean you no harm."  He let her hand go and stared at the oil fire she set up at the center of the tent.  "Was it that, that was bothering you so?  Your eyes wavered, refused to look at me."

[Elapheesa]

She had led him, hand in hand to the tent because despite her fears she cared for him enough to not wish him to stumble about in the snow seeking out the safety and warmth of the tent.  As he took her hand in both of his she felt warmth from the contact of his skin against hers and she shuddered unintentionally.  As he began to speak she felt relief.  She didn't want to continue the tense atmosphere between them.  She had noticed her own behaviour becoming more and more distant from him and knew she was deliberately giving the injured stranger and indeed Theon's bird kinder glances and sweeter smiles than she was allowing him but she was right to feel a concern about his mysterious nature and as he spoke he seemed to provoke more questions in her mind than answers though this was not his fault and the more he revealed about his lack of memory and the two years he had been travelling to have no more answers than before he began made her felt sympathy for him.  Though it also made their current adventure and hunt for the best seem less significant in his life and her also.

"I feel disgusted at myself that I have often wished I could forget my own past but hearing you I know that was wrong.  Not to know your past and indeed not to know yourself the way you describe must leave you feeling very vulnerable indeed.  It is no wonder I felt the need to guard myself from you, you leave me feeling as though I do not know you even as we spend more time together but as you barely know yourself and even then only know how you have behaved and where you have been in the last two years and nothing before it is obvious why I feel the way I do."   They were sitting opposite each other in the tent, she had stopped avoiding eye contact with him at some point in their conversation and her body language seemed less guarded now her arms unfolded and her furs looser about her shoulders, she was relaxing in his company once more.

For a moment she was distracted as a drink filled Tern snored loudly on his sleeping roll snorting like a large animal and rolling over to face the tent skin, his back to them and the fire that lit and warmed the space.  "You don't really have any answers for me, you cannot satisfy my curiosity the way I thought you could but you have made me understand you at little better and the way you make me feel" she hesitated not elaborating on what she said before adding, "I appreciate your honesty.  I dare say I would not have felt quite as worried had I not felt the tingling and vibrating through my skeleton and the heat in my heart that I felt when Tarn touched Lohengrin your sword and I in turn felt its power move through my body."

Her face was lit in a flattering low, warm light now.  Her cheek bones sculptural in their beauty, her hair loosely fastened fell about her face softly framing her features and drawing attention to her big eyes.  Even though she smiled now and made herself seem open to him her eyes still looked a little disappointed, sad even.

"To not know your name until a stranger addressed you with it must be a terrifying thing" she said with genuine feeling and an appreciation for what he had suffered with his memory loss.  The uncertainly of who you are does scare me, as it does you.  We would not be of reasoned mind if it didn't" she added laying down on the sleeping roll beneath her and looking at the bare, cold canvas floor where Theon currently sat. 

She had constructed a larger tent for them with relative ease.  She carried bones and animal skins enough to make a tent for three people but it was a larger tent than she would usually build, even when travelling in a larger group.  Larger tents were harder to heat, harder to conceal and ultimately more at risk in snow storms, harsh blizzards and strong winds.  She had built quite a generous tent on their first night as the snow drift behind it had acted as a shelter from the wind and aided it's concealment, though in the thick blizzard that fell that night they were never really at risk of any patrolling beasts looking for food.  Tonight, underneath the canopy of trees above them she was once again able to build a larger tent as the tree branches provided cover to protect them from the weather and helped to conceal their location.  Trees were rare here so it was likely to be the last tent of this considerable size she would be able to construct for quite some time.  Their tents would more likely be smaller, with less height and minimal space adequate for the two of them to sleep side by side with little room for anything else or any movement around them.  But even in this larger tent the issue of sleeping mats was problematic for Elapheesa had only 2.  She rarely needed the second and in truth it was kept to use should her first need to be abandoned in a hurry or else she found the first wet and temporarily unusable.  "We will be up early" she said looking at Theon and aware she would need to say something about why she had been staring at him so intently for a few quiet minutes as she contemplated the sleeping situation.  "We will make haste to Sa'Dihm and once our business there is complete return to this place and move onwards in search of the beast".  She felt in necessary to make clear that despite his revelation she would still be his travelling companion on this hunt and she would not abandon him now. 

The fire in the tent was glowing, embers dancing a little as white smoke moved up out of the tent greeted by the cold air outside.  The heat was adequate but their thick furs were still essential to maintain body heat and protect their health.  "I am not equipped for two companions" she said gesturing to the sleeping roll beneath her.  "I have not ever had the company of two, almost strangers" she continued, "not ever.  I ... only have two sleeping rolls" she said looking guilty that she could not serve him better.  "Sleep is what we need now, or at least opportunity to rest our eyes and our bodies." She lifted the largest of furs that she wore over her already considerable layers.  In lifting the fur she revealed a slim portion of sleeping roll remaining.  "You may share" she said smiling softly before turning to face the tent skin. 

The thin strip of sleeping roll was of course a mediocre offering for a man of Theon's height and build but in this place and indeed to Elapheesa and her kind, an offering of this type was considerable.  She offered him to share what was the equivalent of a bed and in positioning her own body against the cold tent skin and allowing him the shelter of her curves and proximity to the fire she was giving the best she could give and certainly more than she had ever offered before. 

[Lion]

Theon felt the air almost become physically lighter and he straightened his shoulders, feeling a weight being lifted from them.  He couldn't help the smile that stretched across his face from ear to ear.  At last this thing wouldn't be held over their heads any longer, for the stress of hunting such a savage and mysterious beast was enough to take a toll on a man alone.  For though Elepheesa had braved the harshness of this tundra alone as she'd so often claimed before, even Theon knew that coming to find these slow and gradual answers – if they could be called that – about the creature they hunted could only bring more and more compounding tension to the stability of one's mind.  But in her expression, Theon could read that she would not leave him, not since she'd devoted herself to his cause.  Though it did leave him to wonder why still, she would remain though she would gain nothing from it.  But neither did he, save the knowledge of ridding the tundra of something that could so brazenly and brutally kill without any kind of discretion it seemed.

So Theon nodded to Elepheesa's concern and felt as if there wasn't any need for anything more to say.  Their shelter was warm, comfortable, and she had done the right thing to give Tarn the other bedroll as he'd needed it more than Theon and though he wasn't concerned about sleeping on the hardened skin covered floor, he was actually quite surprised when one such as Elepheesa moved over some to make room for him.  He actually blushed at the thought and kept his face averted for a moment before he felt it vanish.

Indeed the positioning would be a little awkward and a little uncomfortable at the fact that he was much larger in size than she was, he wasn't averse to curling into a more agreeable position.  He unbuckled the straps of his cuirass which was getting to be more of a hassle when it came to sleeping arrangements but in the least it might save his life during the day.  He set it off to the side and Jouzan hopped into it, nestling into the remains of Theon's body heat.

Theon took the fur from his cloak and set it more securely around him as he scooted closer beside Elepheesa.  "I understand your concern, but I should let you know that perhaps you worry too much.  Don't mistake my words as carelessness.  In a place like the tundra, I'm sure you can imagine that one can never worry enough, but I do not mind sleeping on the floor, I don't mind sharing a bedroll either."  He had laid down then, close enough to feel her body heat radiating off of her though and pulled the bear skin up over both of them.

"When I was traveling north though the mountains, I came across hunters and trappers very much like yourself.  There were three of them: Nali, Turk, and Hasphat.  Female, male, and male, respectively.  They made their living in the wild, and even dressed in the skins of their kills and they never forsook anything they killed, using every bone and joint.  They were like you in this aspect, but in many ways they were different.  Their world was perfect, they hadn't a care in the world, not of government, not of men and their wars, not of bandits, brigands, or even strange travelers like myself.  They were happy, content in their loneliness together, if that makes sense.  Nothing could ruin their world, for it was theirs to rule alone.  Whatever gods there may be, they certainly smiled on them."

Theon paused and then turned his head to hers.  He gave her a speculative look, knowing it was not his place but brave to answer nonetheless.  "You don't have to answer if it is not your please, but before, you said something about...trying to forget your past.  Why?  I don't understand.  What happened that would make you want to forget?"