• Solo • One Stray To Another

[Jinyel]

Sun. Sky. Open water and salt in the air.

A young man in the water atop a sarkin without a saddle.

Toutouye. Jinyel raised an eyebrow. You do not know how to ride her.

Neither do you. Toutouye’s challenge was cheeky. After all, You said it yourself, no saddle will suit her and you just hang on to her mane. And she answers to sign language. So, I can ride her.

You cannot breathe underwater.

Can you? Show me your gills.

A laugh slipped out of Jinyel. He hadn’t expected it, and it undercut the stern look he was trying to give. I need her to get to Scalvoris Town.

You have a boat.

True. But I will need her after I get off the boat.

Then I’ll give her back once you get off the boat.

But then you will have neither her nor the boat to come back here.

Who said I was going to come back here when you get off the boat?

Jinyel tilted his head. Toutouye grinned.

I must travel to Almund, Jinyel said. Then to Faldrass, and to Egilrun. That’s a full circle around Scalvoris.

Your horses are strong, and you have two of them. I don’t weigh much.

Do you know how to ride a horse?

About as well as I know how to ride her. Toutouye patted the sarkin’s neck.

Do you? Jinyel smirked. To the sarkin, he signed, Come to me.

Ailuhn flicked her scaly tail and trotted through chest-high water. Toutouye yelped even at that slow speed, twisting fingers into her mane to stay seated. Over rocky shore and jagged tide pools, mount and rider came to a steady ― if awkward ― halt upon soft sand. .

Not fair, Toutouye huffed.

But you kept your seat. That is good. Ailuhn is far more slippery than a horse.

So when I’m on your horses, it will be easier?

How cheerfully he smiled when he used ‘when’ instead of ‘if.’

It will be at least a tentrial, Jinyel signed. It could become two.

I have survived longer than that by myself. It will be no difficulty to survive it together.

Does your father know?

Your uncle doesn’t need to. We live in a nest, not a cage. You aren’t the only one who flies to and fro.

Jinyel placed a hand on Ailuhn’s snout. The sarkin pushed her face underneath it, creating a stroke with no effort on Jinyel’s end. If it were anyone else making this request, Jinyel would have refused. He was a seasoned wildling, quick to cover ground and reluctant to slow down.

But Toutouye was also a seasoned wildling. Like Jinyel, he had survived alone before coming to shelter under Woe’s wing, and it did not bother him to leave that shelter. He knew how to gather food, avoid predators, and escape if those predators found him anyway.

Jinyel could be Toutouye’s companion without being his provider.

This is something you want to do? Jinyel asked. Travel with me across the island?

Yes. Toutouye’s signs softened. Until you and I come home.

Home. Jinyel’s hands still weren’t used to that word.

[Jinyel]

Jinyel breathed more easily in the sunlight. Perhaps it was the immortal’s mark on his hip, but the season of Ashan fell more gently upon him than any which came before it. With his uncle’s home behind him, Scalvoris Town ahead, and a mile of open water between them, it was easy to believe the daylight would last forever. All of Idalos seemed to hold its breath for him, gulls above and water below and the crescent island which waited to receive him.

The former pirate sloop was agile across the waves, and small enough for one man to handle alone. Not that Jinyel was a particularly skilled sailor, but with so much open space and such a clear line of sight to his destination, it was impossible to get lost unless he deliberately tried to do so. As for steering the thing, he understood the most important elements: keep the ship upright. Harvest the wind to move forward, and the angle of the vessel to turn. With one hand on the rudder, and the other grasped tight around the rope of the aft sail, Jinyel was at least capable of getting his vessel from one place to another.

His vessel. This sloop was his. He was a person in possession of a ship. That was only slightly less strange than the fact he lived in a manor.

Monya no longer grew seasick from ocean voyages, although that didn’t mean she liked them. The she-wolf spent the first break pacing from rail to rail, where she could confirm that the water was exactly the same as the last time she looked, before eventually settling down beside the mast. In its censer at Jinyel’s belt, Littlespark devoured salty air with only slightly less fear than its last journey on a ship. He couldn’t fault it for that; any fire Anak had the right to be nervous over so much water.

Rhythmic splashes off the starboard kept the hunter alert to his cousin’s safety. Yes, he knew Toutouye was perfectly capable of hanging on to a mane by himself, but water was a far heavier environment than land. It was just common sense to tie the young man onto Ailuhn’s back to be sure he wouldn’t come unseated. Ailuhn herself, reluctant to lose sight of Jinyel for even a moment, followed the ship with her head ― and Toutouye’s ― lifted above the water. At this relaxed pace, it was no trouble at all for the sarkin to keep up, and Toutouye was happy to answer Safe every time Jinyel asked Safe?

They were all safe. Hunter, cousin, wolf, spirit, and sarkin.

Scalvoris Town didn’t offer welcome, and it certainly didn’t make room in its busy, trade-thunder port for one little sloop with no goods to sell. Neither Jinyel nor Toutouye were fond of civilized places, and so the hunter aimed his vessel toward the very furthest port. Even at a distance, his cousin was less than thrilled.

You don’t mean to dock here? Toutouye asked, distressed.

At the furthest edge. I will be quick.

I will not go with you to any place like this. I do not care your intentions.

I know. Ailuhn will take you beyond the wall. Go to the wilderness, and I will find you. Her tracks are easy enough to follow.

Toutouye steered the sarkin toward emptier shores, while Jinyel came to ground just half a break before noon. His ship nestled amongst other sloops just like it ― ships built for one and made to be lived off of. Fishermen brought in their first catch of the day, shouting to one another and hauling full nets from deck to street. Although the waters by Scalvoris Town weren’t especially bountiful, it was enough for most of them to earn another day’s wage, and the new arc’s light had brought its customary surge of fish to the surface.

Amidst such bustle, his own ship was so plain as to look almost invisible.

Jinyel’s open shirt and unbound hair disappeared below armor. Black, iron-hard scales became his face once again, and his traveller’s pack came to its heavy, familiar place on his back. But its newest addition ― perhaps its most precious one ― was not suited to be hauled amongst the supplies. Jinyel traced one armored finger across the eight-stringed mandolin which had once belonged to… someone important to Woe. Someone who had vanished long ago, and whom Jinyel was cautious to ask about.

He wasn’t supposed to have this mandolin. He knew that. Woe wished for this mysterious person’s possessions to remain untouched. But the problem there, in Jinyel’s opinion, was that ‘untouched’ often transformed into ‘neglected,’ and this instrument had been so long untouched that not a single string could make its proper note. The other items, like the dresses and jewelry, Jinyel did not know how to repair to their full glory.

His uncle would not like this. But Jinyel did not like his space to be filled with damaged things, especially when he had the power to repair them, and it wasn’t as if Woe was looking over his shoulder at every departure. As Toutouye had said, they lived in a nest, not a cage.

Woe was a creature built of secrets. It would do no harm to keep one from him in turn. And if he found out? Well then he would just have to endure the pain and betrayal of having a mandolin that could actually play a note.

The noise of the city pressed all around him. His horses waited at the edge of the city, and Toutouye waited in the wilderness. With Monya at his heel and Littlespark at his side, Jinyel set off across the island.

[Jinyel]

Rewards Requested

Notes/Warnings: None. 100% atmosphere and 0% plot progression.

Thread: One Stray To Another
City/Area: Scalvoris Town

Renown: None
Do you want this to be considered for Mark Progression? No
If any PC in this thread is in a faction, please list them: None
Faction Points: N/A
Wealth Points: N/A
Collaboration: No
Local Language Thread? Yes, Common Sign

!	Message from: Pig Boy
	Done!

[Pig Boy]

All Players

Rewards

• Language: Common Sign

Jinyel

Feedback

Apologies for the late review!!

This starts innocently enough, with some back and forth banter between Toutouye and Jinyel. I enjoyed the way they play off of each other, and Toutouye's playful side really seems to come out of him when he's with Jinyel. I like anyway that the npc is getting more character development with another PC.

That said, I do wonder what Jinyel's plan is for the mandolin he absconded with. Will his uncle be angry or what when he finds out it was taken to be repaired? Jinyel is such a intriguing and nuanced character, with a lot of interesting quirks. This is just one of them manifesting, I suppose!

Great writing as usual.

Rewards

• XP: 10

Knowledges

• Navigation: x1
• Seafaring: x5