EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth shook her head. "No, I am not brave. I have resilience, I have been trained well and know what I am doing, but I am afraid. I am always afraid. I barely brought myself to stab the wamasu. i almost did nothing when Father was hitting you. I just...I get so afraid I stop moving. I not always able to get past it. Other hunters think I am weak, they think I will...get them killed if I get afraid and freeze up. They do not think they can trust me...and they are probably right. I wish I could be brave."

Kaleeth's voice was obviously saddened, but she tried to keep her spirits up. Sitting and relaxing in each other's arms with Janius was certainly helping. "You, though, you are brave. You stood up to the wamasu alone when I just screamed. I would have died without you. You are strong. If I was that strong, maybe I would not have as many reasons to be afraid? Maybe...no, I trust you. You say being werewolf would not be good for me, and you know more about it than me. I should not want it." She said, trying to erase the temptation from her mind to ask to receive the condition herself. She knew it would not be a good idea to sleep out in the marsh all night, but she wanted to stay just a bit longer to relax.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth listened with interest at Janius' explanation. She found that it reminded her of something she had been told long ago, but she could not really remember anything about it. All her memory told her was that people in her village might know what werewolves are, so it was important that she not say anything about it. "Your life does sound very close to ours. You hunt, you move around a lot, and you are close with everyone. I guess you do not always move to same places like we do, though. We move our village between a few different trees every season. It sounds terrible that people hunt you though. I do not see why anyone would want to kill someone as nice as you. It is not your fault that the...beast spirit, is hard to control."

Resting her head on his chest, Kaleeth looked up at him with a smile. "Everything else sounds great though. I remember seeing you as a werewolf. You were strong, powerful. You held off a wamasu with only your hands. It makes you powerful, and interesting, and you say it is amazing to experience. I wish I could feel that power. Maybe then, I would be a good hunter."

Shadows in the Moonlight

"Well, we have some meat with us. It's all sealed away, so its scent won't temp us most of the time, but we can use it to practice staying in control. I do not know how much control we will have by the end of the week, but that is at least a goal to keep ourselves in human form around raw or cooking meat. It sounds...doable. We have a week to figure it out, at least. I was also thinking about one thing I noticed about our transformations. It seems that they do not happen back to back, within a short time. Next week, if we can find a place to slip away to and transform during the day, it might make it easier to avoid transforming when we don't want to." Sam commented. He turned off the interstate and onto a smaller road, which lead to his planned campsite in about ten or so miles. It was a remote and secluded place that he had only ever been to once before. He wasn't really sure if anyone was actually supposed to be there, but if no one found them, then there wouldn't be a problem.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I need to go to bed now. Goodnight.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth wrapped her tail around Janius' waist and smiled. Even with all that happened, even if the future was uncertain, she could at least have some comfort in this moment. She knew Janius would stand little chance of convincing her father of anything, but she did appreciate that he was willing to undertake such an impossible endeavor for her. Although, his devotion did make their inevitable separation all the more painful. "I do not know what will happen in all of this. It is all so confusing. I do not know what will happen when you talk to him, or when it is time for you to leave. I feel like I do not know anything, just...just that I know I do not want it to be the last time I see you when you leave. I do not know when, or how, or in what way, but I want to see you again. Somehow, somewhere. It is all very stressful to think about, but...at least we can relax now."

Kaleeth closed her eyes and resigned herself to simply enjoying Janius' body heat. Despite the air already being rather hot, she found his warmth relaxing. After a few minutes, she spoke up suddenly, and in a much more calm tone as before. "I am wondering, what is it like to be a werewolf?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

No twists, but maybe more dialogue.

Blood Act I~ Ghosts of the Past

It has come to my attention that I did, in fact, not post a few days ago, despite my memory telling me I did. I should remedy that soon.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

With Janius' reminder, Kaleeth leaned over to the riverbank nearby and grabbed her satchel, then grabbed the other waterskin it contained. "Not yet, but I can if you think I need it." She quickly downed the waterskin's contents, then packed it back into the satchel. Going back to the matter at hand, she tried to calm herself down and think more rationally on the situation. "I understand why you do not want to hurt my life, but...I had a reason to choose not to go with him. His hate for you is not a part of the teachings of the Hist. If I go with him and refuse you, I would be acting against the Hist's teaching. I am not supposed to hate, and I do not want to support his hate. I wish I could help him change, but...I don't think I can. I don't think you can. All his family and friends died because of the slaver.s They tortured him and cut of some of his toes. He still has nightmares about the Imperial woman. I just...I do not want you to think different of him than he is. I love you, but I love Father too. I know you may not see it, but...Father is very compassionate man. He is the most selfless, loyal person in the village. He gives all his time to the village and our family, and he has sacrificed a lot many times to keep everyone safe. When I was young, we had a few months of famine where we could not find animals to hunt, and could not grow enough food. Father did not eat for a week just so me and my brother would have food. He has always said he would give his life for us, and, even with what is going on...I still think he would. Before now, he never yelled at me other than in training. If you really want to talk to him...I don't think he would attack you, not again. He was very angry to see us mating, but he may have calmed some by tomorrow. I do not think it will help though. He will probably just yell at you more and make you leave his hut. If he could, he would make you and your friends leave the village, but Thorantilth or Reanaseer would need to agree too."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth looked over and grabbed Janius' hand in hers. She stopped herself from sobbing enough that she could speak more clearly. "Father...he loves me, I know he does. I do not think he would be caring so much about this if he did not. It is just...he hates Imperials. He does not trust them, and he wants to protect me. Even if he is wrong. Like I said, I wish it was Saxhleel that hurt him, not Imperials. Father, he was not from this village. He was hatched in another village, a smaller one that lived in the outer marshes. They...they were all killed, or taken. The Treeminder has always told me that slavery is rare now, that it is...illegal everywhere, but Father disagrees. He told me the stories of how his village took in visitors one day. There were a few races, but the leader was an Imperial man. They stayed for a while, traded, shared stories, then left, but...a few days later he came back with more people and attacked when they were weak, while many hunters were away. They killed everyone who fought back and tied up the others, then they waited for the other hunters to come back and killed them. Father was young, I think only nine or ten, he couldn't fight back, so they tied him up. He said he had to watch his mother die, and...that it was not fast. He does not like to talk about that."

Kaleeth let out a depressed sigh, then put her arm around Janius and rested her head on his shoulder. Now, more than any time, she needed comfort. "After everyone was dead, they took the ones they tied up and put them in a cart to take them out of Black Marsh. Father did not want to leave, so he did not, what is the word...cooperate. The wife of the leader, she was the one who punished him He talked back to one, so she whipped him for almost an hour. He kicked one of them, so she cut off some of his toes. He would have tried to escape, but it was the will of the Hist that he and the others were saved. A group of hunters from this village had to go farther than normal to find prey, and they found the slavers. They killed them and rescued all of the slaves. Most stayed here, in the village. Father is very loyal to the village now."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Kaleeth wiped the blood from her nose and tried to stop herself from sobbing. She looked up from the ground at Janius with her vision blurred by tears. Closing her eyes, she shook her head lightly. "No, he will not hurt me. He care too much about me to do that on purpose. He is very angry, but I could see pain in his eyes. I hurt him very much. I...I do not think you should talk to him. I don't think he will like you, or ever like you. Father does not trust outsiders, but he really hates Imperials. I will be afraid if you go talk to him, especially alone. I love you, and I don't want him to hurt you...and I love him, and don't want you to hurt him. I just...I wish he could like you. Why could it not have been Saxhleel that did it?" Kaleeth said, stopping herself with tears before she could clarify.