Searing 6th, Year 66, Age of Steel
The young pup was led through the undergrowth, briars grabbing at her clothes and her hair as she did her best to try and follow after Isra. The woman in question kept a quick pace, even with the six-year-old in tow. That was simply what Isra demanded. The strong survived, even children must learn how to be strong if they expected to live in a world as dangerous and chaotic as Ransera. Perhaps the ideology was a touch brutal, but the young child was already well acquainted with the feral whims of this land. She had been since as far back as she could possibly remember.
It didn't make her happy. Trying desperately to keep up with Isra who seemed to be just a little bit out of reach every time Alyssum got that much closer to catching up. She whimpered and whined but either she was too quiet for Isra to hear or Isra has just elected to ignore her whiny charge. Neither one would be particularly shocking to Alyssum. Sometimes her caretaker acted like she was blind, deaf, and dumb. Other times every little thing that Alyssum did went noticed by Isra without fail. Whatever they were out here to do, the Rathari didn't think it was going to be pleasant. That's not how Isra worked. Whenever they left their makeshift camp for a seemingly random reason, it was always a bad thing. Some kind of trial for Alyssum to overcome, or a task she needed to complete before she could be allowed to go home. Always with her best interests at heart, always in an attempt to make Alyssum stronger or wiser or fiercer. But rarely did the young Rathari see it that way.
"Okay, little pup," Isra declared, coming to a full stop in the middle of the woods. "We're playing a game today."
"What game?" Alyssum stuttered out in her basic Vithmi, the language still uncomfortable on her tongue. Isra had made the effort to teach Alyssum the language when she was old enough to learn it. That being said, Alyssum was significantly better at reading and writing than she was at actually speaking. She struggled with the words she was trying to put together, her eyes narrowed. That wasn't the right way to word that question, was it? "What kind of game?" She amended, trying to get the words to come out sounding less ugly and slurred than the first time.
Isra only had the grace to acknowledge the question after Alyssum had made the necessary adjustments to her speech.
"This game," Isra said, her smile bordering on frightening, "Is called 'don't get eaten by the monster!' How we play is we sneak around and we don't get eaten by the monster."
"What monster?" Alyssum's ears were already flattening against her head in poorly masked dread. Instead of reviewing an actual answer, Alyssum flinches as a deafening roar filled the ears, crashing against her delicate ears powerfully enough to make them ring. She covered her ears and stood like that for a moment until the ringing slowly began to fade and eventually come to a complete stop.
"That monster," Isra said, grin growing even larger. "We're going to sneak back to our camp, it's going to chase us," she said as though this was a completely normal activity. With Isra perhaps it was. Isra had an easy time melting into the shadows, her form practically disappearing the moment she stepped under the shade of the trees, as though she herself had been born from liquid ebony and was finally returning home. "Don't worry, I'll give you direction," Isra quickly amended when Alyssum went pale.
That didn't really help the situation, Isra! Was a monster really going to eat her if she didn't sneak home well enough? She could hear growling in the distance.
"I'd suggest getting to it. I'd also suggest avoiding stepping on anything that makes noise," Isra said before Alyssum truly lost sight of the oldest woman and she felt absolutely alone. Alyssum whimpered, ears flat against her head as her nostrils flared. She'd even lost Isra's scent, the only thing on the air being the crisp breeze and the scent of plants. She was quick to take isra's advice, but she kind of fumbled it a little bit. She tripped through the undergrowth in her valiant attempt to escape, her heart beating out of her chest. If she kept plowing through the brush and trees like this she was going to be caught. She was going to be eaten!
She tried to think about the advice Isra had given her. Don't step on anything loud. How in the heck was she supposed to avoid doing that? It was a forest, everything was loud! Leaves were loud, birds were loud. Her breathing was loud. Her panic had caused her breathing to absolutely spike and the young Rathari was very convinced she was going to be eaten alive.
She scanned the ground, looking for places where there wasn't swaths upon swaths of wild green growth. That's when she took note of a small game trail. Likely created by some large type of animal like a deer, the trail was flatted down dirt and nothing grew on it. If she was careful with where and how she stepped, avoiding the green growth along the sides of the path, she should be able to step inside the game trail and use it to safely flee whatever beast was tailing her.
She tried to keep her pace speedy, but her tail kept disturbing the undergrowth literally every time she moved, the damn thing. She brought her tail and wings in closer, raising her tail so it stopped brushing against the ground. Eventually, she wrapped her tail along her waist, tucking it under her wings because it wouldn't stop hitting anything and everything that seemed to make noise along her attempt at walking quietly. She winced every time she brushed against something or her foot hit the ground too hard. In the distance, she could hear the sound of roars from a beast she didn't know the name or the appearance of. it made it all the more horrifying. She didn't know what was out there. She didn't know why Isra had brought her out here. She didn't know what was going on. She wanted to go home.
"Toe to heel, little pup," a voice said from seemingly right beside her. Alyssum nearly jumped out of his skin as Isra seemed to materialize from the nothingness, her footsteps completely silent in spit of the fact she was walking among the deepest leaves and vines. it was like she didn't exist, as though her form was immaterial. How did Alyssum do that? "Toe to heel," Isra repeated her tone a little sharper, her voice a little firmer. Alyssum jumped once more, looking down at her feet. Like most people, she walked heel to toe. it felt unnatural to step on her toe first.
She gave it a shot, stepping on her toe first and then carefully lowering her heel. Her footsteps were a lot quieter, but her pace also naturally slowed down alongside it. She kept trying to speed up, but every time she did her footsteps got loud again. "Don't try to rush. There's no point rushing. The only goal is to not get caught, not try to get home fast," Isra said. Her tone was chastising but took on the faintest hint of something gentle when she noticed the tears that were gathering in the eyes of the still very young Rathari.
Alyssum sniffled, nodding her head and keeping her pace slower. She took small, slow steps. Keeping the steps small also helped. They kept her balanced and kept her weight from shifting around too much.
Her focus was completely on her feet, the little Rathari peering through a teary gaze as the roaring only got louder and louder, alongside her sniffling. Tiny little steps, slow and steady. She moved along at a snail's pace, a pace which Isra matched. "Make sure you're keeping your weight off of your toe until you've placed your heel down. Use your toe to test the ground and see if it makes noise or feels unsteady," she continued trying to instruct, but it was fairly obvious that like most children in a stressful situation, Alyssum was slowly starting to shut down.
Her lip was literally quivering, as she tried valiantly to choke back the sobs. The roaring didn't seem to get any closer, almost as though it knew it wasn't supposed to, but the damage was already done Alyssum was making a lot more noise as she started to shiver, her feet bumping off the trail occasionally and causing a disturbance in the undergrowth. As if that was the thing which made all the forest creatures avoid the area. Her crying was drawing plenty of attention.
Isra sighed rather heavily, watching the Rathari move. Her expression wasn't disappointed. If anything it was twinged with remorse. "I miscalculated," she muttered quietly to herself was a shake of her head. At the very least, the pathetic waterworks were endearing if nothing more. "That's enough for today," she said, leaning down and picking Alyssum up. The child was very easily carried by the much larger, much more powerful woman. The moment Alyssum was safely in Isra's arms she clung to Isra's chest and cried into that, using Isra's clothes to muffle the crying.
Isra took her straight home. They'd try again another day. Maybe with lower stakes.
