Re: Kaimeta's Beach and Hut

[Leanan]

"I see." Stormcloud replied to the comment about Heart, Spirit and Mind. "I guess there are hurts that no one can heal. Not even a High One." It was a troubling thought.

She grinned. "Wouldn't have to be young. Older ones have more experience." She giggled a little. Reminded of children's games, she nodded. "I do remember playing with you. I think I pulled your braid once. My grandmother was very angry at me about that." She had been just a little cubling, unaware that a High One should be treated with respect, at least in her grandmother's opinion.

"No arguments from me." She emptied her cup. Some small part of her wondered if she could still walk home after all this drinking. Oh well. It wouldn't be the first time Bigpaws came to his elf-friend's assistance in such a situation.

[Kaimeta]

Kai smiled at Stormcloud. "In truth being a High One has little to do with the heart, head and soul. If anything it means more damage." She tilted her head towards the younger elf. "I know some of how we got here has been passed down to you correct?" She wasn't totally sure what they were teaching the young these days.

"I can say that my first few hundred years here was not pleasant for anyone. I was so broken." She let her head rest against the back of her chair. "It wasn't until the first child was born that I really started to come out of my sorrow and begin to heal. The flesh heals faster than the heart, but the heart can heal. Given enough time." The redheaded elf said, closing her eyes.

"Tis true the older partners have more experience, but there are few older than myself,"She giggled. "So if I do take someone to my bed he will be much younger. Though that isn't likely as I do not feel ready to take a love mate." She smiled like a young girl herself again as she filled Stormcloud's cup again.

[Leanan]

Stormcloud frowned a little. These were complicated thoughts, especially for a drunken mind to handle. "You have children?" She hesitated. "Stupid question, sorry. Don't mind me. I think I -hic- might be a little tiny bit drunk." She attempted to rise from the chair, but stumbled over her own legs and fell facedown on the sand. "I might even be a lot drunk", she amended her words. "Sorry about this. I think I have had enough drink for one day. I shall get Bigpaws to take me home. Thank you very much for your generosity."

She wolf-sent to Bigpaws, who arrived promptly. The smell of his elf-friend's breath and the fuzziness of her sending told him all he needed to know.

[Kaimeta]

Kai smiled at Stormcloud. "If you wake with head pain come see me and I'll clear that up for you, since I helped you get in this state." She hoped that her young friend didn't wake with a headache but you couldn't never be sure. The High One stood to help the younger elf, to her feet before her wolf friend arrived.

"I was glad for the company, Stormcloud. Feel free to visit when ever you have time." Kai looked around and wondered if they would be back. To Bigpaws. "I am sorry for getting your friend so drunk. I tend to forget that most can't keep up with my drinking. I should have known better." She smiled apologetically at the wolf.

[Leanan]

Stromcloud smiled gratefully at the High One. It was very likely that a headache would arrive with the following morning. But she didn't regret the drinking. Such activities were pleasant, and caused no harm if not enjoyed too often.

Bigpaws was licking Stormcloud's face affectionately when the High One spoke to him. His ears came up in surprise; it was rare that an elf who didn't have his "elf-pack's" familiar wolfish smell on her would speak to a wolf the way she just had. The wolf rose to his back-paws and reached up to lick Kaimeta's face, confident that if his elf-friend chose this elf as a friend, then she was his friend also.

Stormcloud groaned, feeling embarrassed. "Sorry. He's like that with most elves." She said apologetically. She hoped the High One would not feel offended - or afraid. Bigpaws was quite a large wolf. It would not be the first time a pure-blooded elf mistook his friendliness for an attempt to eat them.

[Kaimeta]

Kai giggled like a child and ran her hand through Bigpaws fur. Oh she had wanted to do that from the moment she laid eyes on him. His fur looked as soft as it was. "I don't mind at all. "Kai said gently pushing the large wolf off her shoulders. "I find it refreshing to see such a gentle soul in one so strong." She said still gently scratching behind his ears.

Kai smiled at the younger elf, part of her bangs sticking off at a strange angle from wolf slobber. "It seems though I will need a bath later." She giggled her smile never leaving her face.

[Leanan]

"He is gentle with elves", Stormcloud replied in a slightly slurred voice, "but he gets quite fierce with other wolves sometimes, when he keeps the wolf pack in order and reminds them why he is the lead male." She giggled a little at Kaimeta's mention of needing a bath. She wolf-sent to Bigpaws: **Come on, big softie. Let's go home.**

She turned to Kaimeta. "I will see you later. Thanks again for your -hic- hospitality!" Then she mounted her wolf-friend, a bit clumsily, not surprising considering the state she was in, and they headed for the forest.

[Kaimeta]

Kai waved as the young wolf elf started off with her friend into the forest. "Come back any time my young friend!" Kai called after her. Smiling she ducked into her hut to grab a sheet to dry off with and made her way to her spring to bathe.

After her wash she dressed in a loose dress and finished the jar and another of the drink, passing out in her hammock to await the next day.

[Kaimeta]

[Kaimeta]

Kai sighed as she saw her hut come into view. She had parted with Staystar convincing him to return to the festival or his mate, which ever suited him. She was alone for the first time that evening with her thoughts. She didnt like this. She pulled back the furs from her door and stepped down into her hut. 

The hut itself wasn't that impressive. Standing only 4 feet above ground, the lower part dug 3 feet into the ground for the warm in the winter and the cool in the summer. 
"I need to clean out the sand trap." She muttered, kicking the sand out of the small bowl inside the door, to keep in from getting into her home. 

There were 2 rooms one she stood in now, the floor was awash with color, covered in rugs and pillows, around her cook fire. There were pans and other cooking necessities on pegs on the wall. By the door on pegs hung her silver white wood bow and her bright metal short swords. The leathers of her sheathes and quiver well cared for. There were a few chests in the room against the wall but what was really catching were the shelves around the room, from about a foot off the ground to the celling that were lined with every trinket the High One had been given since coming to the cove. 

Throwing her shawl on the ground Kai made her way to the back of the first and main room. She pulled back the furs to reveal a smaller room. Her bedchamber. The bed dug into the ground like the rest of the hut for the cool or warm. There was no real mattress but a mass of giant over stuffed pillows and blankets in the High One sized crater that was her bed. The bed was really just a round hole in the ground with soft things thrown in. There were chests around the room here too. Most holding the High One's clothes or other personal effects. 

There were shelves in this room too, each lined with trinkets from her time here. She never threw anything given to her away if she could help it, She kept even the silliest things, each having meaning to her, each tying her to the elves around her. 

She threw off her clothes from the festival, and wrapped her bathing clothes around her. She then made her way back out of the hut to her small spring to wash the worry and fear of the day away.


Slipping her feet in the coolish water, she sighed at the relief they felt. She sat at the water side a moment while she unbraided her hair, still silver and pale in the moonlight. Her eyes had returned to their unmatched state before she arrived home. She slipped the rest of the way in to the pool and let the water cradle her body.  She sighed as she floated in the water, looking up at the moon. This had been a day full of unexpected events.

[Leanan]

Stormcloud wasn't sure if she would find Kaimeta at her hut or still remaining at the festival, but since where she had found her mother was closer to the solitary hut, she decided to try there first.

During the walk there, they spoke little to each other. Skybolt kept pretending she wasn't hurt, but Stormcloud had a strong feeling she was faking it. Otherwise, she would have protested much longer, and with more swear words.

They reached the hut, trailed by the talkative Preserver, Ripeberry, who chattered all the way, mostly about dreamberries and how they should go and have some wine at the festival before it all ran out.

There was no sign of the High One. Stormcloud sent openly: **Kaimeta? We have need of a healer. Can you help us?** Sending this, she fervently hoped she wasn't interrupting anything.

[Kaimeta]

Stormcloud's sending touched Kai's mind, pulling her out of her deep thoughts. Rising out of the water she sent back ** By the pond** Her long red hair clung to her as she emerged from the water, long red strands fell down her tanned skin. 

She stepped out of the pool and wrapped a drying blanket around her body. She was covered but she was wet and that wasn't always a good thing for people in need of healer. 

**What's happened?** She asked in sending, enjoying the physical quite of the moment.

[Leanan]

Stormcloud headed for the pond, her recluctant mother and a chatty preserver in tow. Skybolt was uncharacteristically quiet, and Stormcloud noticed her expression, which was not a grimace of pain, but only because Skybolt was holding it back. "Of all the stubborn elves in the whole world, you are the most stubborn, no doubt about it." Stormcloud muttered, mostly to herself.

"Ripeberry want see dancey-happy Highthings! Want tastemuch berrywine dreamthing at partyplace!" Ripeberry complained.

"Then go!" Skybolt snarled, through gritted teeth. The preserver quieted, but instead of leaving, perched itself in Stormcloud's feathery hair, where it knew it was welcome.

**Don't worry, nothing urgent**, Stormcloud assured Kaimeta in a locked sending, **just my fool of a mother getting herself hurt again in some senseless pursuit of what I can only assume to be a heroic and painful death**. This was by far not the first time Skybolt needed to be healed by Kaimeta. Some elves, it would seem, never learned.

As they arrived, Stormcloud was relieved to find out Kaimeta was alone. It would have been embarrassing beyond measure to have interrupted her when she was with her new Recognized. She worried for Kaimeta in that complicated situation, as her friend, but right now, she needed her in the capacity of a healer. Talk of the Recognition would come later, if Kaimeta needed to speak, if the situation did not solve itself before that.

"I am sorry for disturbing your bath. My mother fell from a tree, and some of the tree fell with her. She refuses to admit she is hurt, but I know better." Skybolt just stood behind her, glowering, yet too shy of the High One to start an argument in her presence.

[Kaimeta]

Kai frowned at Skybolt. "I should just set this and let it heal by nature instead of magic, maybe then you'd learn." She sighed. The elfess ever seemed to leaner and on more than one occasion, Kai had been called to heal a broken and  usually bleeding Skybolt. 

Shaking her head Kai pushed her long hair behind her. "Over here." She gestured to the hammock. "This will not be pleasant, child." Kai said in a tone that would send others to the hills. She could only do so much of the pain but this discomfort was something that in some cases she let linger so maybe a rock headed elf would learn a lesson. "Really Skyblot." She sigh under her breath.

[Leanan]

"Do what you wish. You're the healer", Skybolt said, trying her best not to sound too rude. She followed Kaimeta and sat in the hammock. She frowned at being called a child, but did not comment on that. The High One was special. Skybolt's mother had almost worshipped her, so some of that reverence had passed on.

"Longsoft Pretty Highthing makebetter allgood!" Chirped Ripeberry cheerfully, still seated on Stormcloud's head.

Stormcloud smiled ruefully. "Leave her some of the pain. Maybe it'd keep her from crazy ventures for a day or two. And while you're at it, check her head and see if it contains any sense whatsoever, because so far the evidence of that is nonexistent!" She suggested, only half joking.

Kaimeta's dwelling and its surroundings were a fascinating place. The High One had things Stormcloud hadn't seen anywhere else. She looked around curiously, wondering what some of them were for. In another situation she would have asked, but now the Healer must focus on her work, she thought.

[Kaimeta]

With the swift motions that come with practice of generations Kai found the break, set it and started infusing the bone with healing magic. She sighed. She was tried, she'd shifted flesh, healed major wounds and now this. She wasn't complaining but even she had her limits. 

"Here, Rest for 3 days before going out. The bone is still weak, I can only do so much." She instructed Skybolt. "Wait here for a moment." Kai said. She entered her hut and when she emerged again she carried a small pouch. "Here." She handed it to Stormcloud. "This is better for the discomfort than berries." Inside was a fine powder. "Twice a day in water or anything that isn't wine or the like." 

"Did you fall?" She asked. "From how high?" The High One's concern on the brain of the other elfess. She could have damage they couldnt see or feel.

[Leanan]

Skybolt touched his arm, a feeling of relief on her face. There was still some pain, but compared to before the healing, she could barely feel it. "Thank you, High One", she said, bowing her head in respect.

"I fell from... maybe five times my height?" She replied to the question.

Stormcloud took the pouch and held it carefully. "I will make sure she takes it", she promised to Kaimeta. It amused her a little that Kaimeta really would be checking Skybolt's head, even if not for the reason she had suggested. It would be quite a challenge to keep Skybolt resting for three days. Stormcloud would try her best, but did not feel confident of her success in that.

[Kaimeta]

Kai sighed. "Skybolt.." Not wanting to fight the High One placed her hand on the other elfess' head. She closed her eyes and focused on the matter between the bones hoping she would find nothing. The tendrils of her magic probed the brain looking for bruising. 

"You managed to not bruise your mind muscle." She said stepping back. "But a fall like that could give you a silent killer that we wont see till its taken you so be careful when up trees!" She shook her finger at the other elf a wink and smile on her face. 

**Try to behave, you daughter worries about you.** she lock sent to Skybolt. "Alright you should be good to go, just get that rest!" Kai teased.

[Leanan]

Skybolt frowned. She could feel, or at least she imagined she could, Kaimeta's magic somehow probing inside her head. "I will be careful", she promised. At the locked sending, she shrugged, and lock-sent back: **She knows what I am like. And she's been weaned, she should manage on her own.**

"Thank you once again." Skybolt said aloud, "I hope not to come here again too soon, at least not for a healing."

Stormcloud felt relieved that all was found to be well. There was something else on her mind, though, so she lock-sent to Kaimeta: **I heard about your Recognition. I know it's none of my business, but if you want someone to talk to, I am more than willing to listen.** She offered. **I have no useful advice whatsoever on the subject, but knowing our friends and tribemates, you will have plenty of that anyways, whether you want it or not.**

Without the two WolfFolk noticing, Ripeberry had flitted to the inside of Kaimeta's hut. It had found a goblet with just a drop of the sweet wine Kaimeta liked on the bottom, and was now trying to reach it. "Tastymuch berrywine! Ripeberry want!" It squeaked in frustration.

[Kaimeta]

Kai's sending back may have been sharper than called for. ** She worries about you her mother and you should be grateful that your child still does.** Her voice was level when she spoke. "It's no trouble, Skybolt. Please be careful next time alright?" She smiled at the newly healed elf. 

Stormcloud's sending didn't catch her off guard. ** Thank you my friend. But I fear that I have only made things worse tonight.** She smiled sadly in her sending. She wasn't sure if anything would come after they met the needs of recognition or not, besides the child, but Kai wasn't wanting to think on that now. 

"Now Ladies if you'll excuse me I have a hunt to prepare for at first light." She smiled. "I'll be seeing you tomorrow Stromcloud." She said rising to her feet.

[Leanan]

Skybolt was startled by the contrast between Kaimeta's stern sending and her polite words. "I will be careful." She repeated her promise. She bowed her head again and got up from the hammock.

Stormcloud nodded in understanding. "Thank you for your help. I hope you sleep well. We will see tomorrow", she told Kaimeta.

The two WolfFolk left the beach. Both were deep in thought, Skybolt about how she'd pass the time until her arm was done mending. Lovemates would be involved, and dreamberries too.

Stormcloud thought about Kaimeta's situation. She didn't know the details, and hadn't understood all that had been said. But it was plain to all that it had not been an easy match. She wondered about the future. The stories all said denying Recognition caused pain, even death, it had been suggested. Kaimeta was a healer, she'd probably come to no harm, but what about Tern? Surely Kaimeta would help him with the effects of Recognition denied?

Neither of them paid any thought to Ripeberry. The preserver had finally decided to enter the goblet filled with the enticing smells, with the result that the entire goblet toppled over and fell to the floor with a loud 'clang'.

[Kaimeta]

After seeing the pair off, Kai sighed. She was tired. Without a thought to soaking in the warm water, she headed back to her hut. She lifted the furs in time to see the preserver and goblet topple over. 

The High One sighed again, this time pinching the bridge of her nose. "I really don't want to deal with this." She said, but all she same walked over and picked up the cup. "If you wanted wine." She started. "All you had to do was ask." She said to the smaller creature. "But for now, you have to go home." She said pointing to the door. 

Pouting Ripeberry left Kai's hut muttering to itself about how mean she was being. 

Kai shook her head. She just wanted to be alone for a while. Entering her bedroom, she threw her wet things on a rack to dry over night and pulled on her loose night gown. Falling to her knees, the fabric was soft and flowing allowing for free movement should she suffer from nightmares. With a sigh of relief the High One's red head hit her pillows and she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

[Kaimeta]

[Kaimeta]

In the gray morning of pre dawn Kaimeta woke. She yawned and sat up scratching her head. She's slept fitfully the night before and was glad for once that she needed to be up early.

Throwing the light blanket off her legs, the High One climbed out of bed. Stretching her long body she shuffled to a chest in the corner of the room. Kneeling down she pulled back the lid and took out her hunting leathers.

For most elves these days it must be hard to imagine the High Ones hunting and gathering their own food, but in the days, months and years following their landing here, the High Ones had to survive and that meant hunting and gathering. Kai had become very good with a bow in a very short time. Hunger is a powerful motivator when needing to learn a skill quickly. She became skilled with her short bright metal swords quickly too. If her people were originally given to war, she would have been a great one among her people.

Pulling the soft and well cared for leather over her skin, she kept her mind off the night before as best she could. She thought instead of the day ahead. Her hunt, the gathering herbs with Brooksong. While she was at Everhome Tree she would check on the sick, injured and aging elves there. She usually did so about twice a week at each holt to keep them from having to travel to her.


Having dressed, the High One pulled her long red hair into a braid that wrapped around her head. She pinned the thick tail with a small coral pin that Tern had given her years ago but she didn't even think about that, nor did the thought cross her mind that she'd chosen that pin from among so many of the others.

She grabbed a piece of fruit as she entered her main room. She ate her small breakfast and she checked her gear. Her bow was old and well cared for. A white almost silver in color thing, well worn with years of use. It was taller than she was and she pulled the string with ease. She was stronger than most would think, thousands of years of running and hunting had made her so. She nodded and placed the bow down again, to check her arrows. Each smooth and straight ready to be fired.

Her swords were well cared for in their sheathes by the door. Strapping them to her thighs Kai stood and swung the quiver over her head. Taking her bow in hand the leather clad High One who looked so much less like her usual self emerged from her hut, in the pre dawn gray of the day.

She made no noise as she made her way to the wood's edge. She knew where her prey would be and she knew she would get her kill, though the idea never gave her any thrill. She hated taking life, but it was a circle and some day she might join it.

The las that was seen of the High One as she moved into the forest was a flash of silver from her bow and a glimpse of red.

[Kaimeta]

Kai saw the girls off with a smile and a wave. She wished them well on their adventures and thanked them again for the help of hauling her bounty home. Her smile faded when they were no longer in view. A sigh escaped the red heads lips. She took the wrapped packages into her hut and stored them for later use in a chest in the main room. Ducking into her bed room, the High one peeled off her hunting leathers. Her swords and bow hung on their pegs by the door again.

The High One emerged from her hut in a simple gown, one more suited to the work she needed to do than her leathers. She floated up and took a good look at her roof. The repairs needed would be easy enough. She just needed the palm fans for it. She didn't know the actual name of the big leaves but she didn't feel she needed to, to know that they made the best roofing material for her hut.

Floating up Kai cut a number of the bigger ones, letting them fall to the ground. Once she had what she felt was enough, she gathered them up and started on her roof. As she worked her mind wandered, and it would, and Kai wasn't aware of the song escaping from her lips.

"I've been calling and calling for you
But you answer and I shut my mouth
I've been searching and seaching for you
But myself I don't want to be found

You say I am
You say Let go
You say Believe
But it's not that easy for me
You say Wait
You say Right now don't you see you're already one foot in the ground
You say

I've been wicked and wild and wrong
And I've wondered the price of my shame
I've been hiding my face for so long
It's a wonder that you know my name

You say Come home
You say I'm here
You say There's some things you just can't control
You say Let me
You say Believe
Why do you search for the answers you already know?
You say I am the way and the light and the truth
Don't be misled by the flight of your youth
Have faith in the things you can't see to believe
What if you had faith in me?
You say Rest here
This is your home
Don't you see that you knew I was here all along
You say"

Kai's clear voice echoed across the sands near her home. The song was one she'd sang to her son at night to help him sleep and the song her first love had sang to her when he started courting her. The tune should be familiar enough to any elf with in ear shot, Kai hummed it often, rarely singing the words too. It was never far from her heart.

It took on new meaning even if she wasn't aware of it. She was hiding herself, she was calling, and searching. It truly was a wonder that any knew her name. Her mind wandered to Tern and what he might be doing. The soft tune still floating across the sands.

Song link:

[Sponsored content]