Dirt and Brass

[Shekru]

Morning was close, but not close enough. It had been a couple days since the woman in the kitchens had been slain, and the Wher hold had been mobilized for guard duty. The faintest hints of blue were beginning to show on the far horizon, but it would be several hours until the sky was light enough to send the Whers inside.

Astride the giant brown's shoulders, Fyg stood at her post, eyes scanning this way and that. Fatigue was beginning to show in her face, but it was only to be expected. Sundown to sun-up was her 'day', and it was drawing to a close. Fygwesk, too, showed signs of tiredness, but that did not stop him from being alert. Cow-like ears swiveled to catch new sounds. People still sleeping within the hold while the guards, and Whers, and their handlers, watched.

She was outside, the cold hadn't chased her into patrolling the inner halls. Not many stayed outside, that time of day, but she was there.

[Xennai]

Another was there as well and his presence was a surprising one. Not on guard duty at that time, Alder had gone outside, tired of being cooped within the Hold for the last few days. His temper, his anger, had taken quite a while to cool off, which was a shock to him. His fits of anger were usually fast to cool but this had been drawn out and long. His Dig was a mess of a result of it, hides thrown everywhere, clothes dumped about recklessly, some of his furniture broken or otherwise damaged.

Now, he felt suitably centered. He felt more...himself. Aldesk had practically begged for his handler to go hunting with him so Alder had acquiesced, feeling absolutely rotten for having subjugated the bronze one to his behavior as of the last few days. Though he hadn’t enjoyed the sight of the wher eating, he had found pleasure in being out of doors. The last time he had had been…particularly unpleasant.

With dawn rapidly approaching, the bronze pair were making their way back home, pleasantly sleepy and dreaming of their own respective wants. For Aldesk, it was his stone couch. For Alder, it was perhaps convincing that pretty kitchen girl into his own furs…A mighty yawn cracked the bronze handler’s jaw as he walked, the cold grass crackling underfoot. When his yawn had stopped, he noticed who was in front of him and froze, Aldesk coming to a standstill at his side.

Careful. Be nice. Do not want last time to happen this time. Alder shook off his bronze’s warning, a baleful green glare directed at the handler in front of him.

Fyg.

[Shekru]

The brown had spotted them early on and, perhaps smartly, kept their approach secreted from his handler. The guard following her shift had not yet come to relieve her, so when the footsteps grew closer, she was surprised by the face that circled in her vision. Green glaring was met with that violet brass that swallowed her pupils, but her look was less glare and more solemn. Somber.

But certainly not apologetic.

"Hope y'told someone inside you were havin' a playdate outside. Know the rules." She said to him, still atop the brown and she didn't look like she was about to get down, either. She had on a thicker jacket to keep the morning chill out, and it made her look thicker. Brawny. Wher-like, a little.

Fygwesk kept his sights around while his handler fixed her stare on the other, though he did offer a greeting to his bronzen brother. Maybe they not kill 'chother this time. You keep He calm, I keep She calm. We need stay focused on Duty.

The Wher turned a bit to share a look with the bronze before resuming his watch of the environs.

Fyg was chewing something, a root or something, and the end stuck out of her mouth. A stalk, of some sorts. Had a very strong smell to it, but not unpleasant. She pulled her hands out of the sleeves over her jerkin and drew one out of a pouch, holding it out. "Tastes kinda awful, but helps settle th'bod some." Was she actually being decent?

[Xennai]

Alder debated for a moment. He debated option one, which involved him leaving the brown handler without a word and going back to his Dig. It involved him still remaining angry with her, though the fury was buried, and going about his life at the wher Hold without ever reconciling. Option two...involved them talking.

He knew what he had to do.

Hands slunk into his pockets and he nodded, face a bit tight. "I told the guards yesterday. Danae knows as well." Seeing as they had duty together. "I thought the word would have passed on to you by now." Suddenly, two heads popped up from beneath his collar. Fiery bright and inken dark, the twins surveyed the scene and chirped, taking to the air without so much as an "as you wish". They began cavorting about and playing, sharp little creels and cries interspersing the air.

Aldesk, for his part, ignored the two firelizards. He looked at the other wher present, humming lowly with agreement. Short fuses have they. We keep calm. We watch. He positioned himself the opposite way from the brown to carry out their duty.

Alder was surprised when he was offered whatever it was Fyg was eating. He hesitated and then stepped closer, reaching into the bag and extracting one of the roots. He chewed it just as hesitantly and grimaced. "You could have left out the kind of. This tastes horrid." He grimaced again and then looked up at the other handler. "Nothing interesting out here, I'm guessing?"

[Shekru]

Satisfied by the bronze's reply, Fygwesk grunted and resumed his watch, appeased. His handler was his problem, and he trusted that Aldesk could handle his person if need be, and that gave him the peace of mind to do what he was made to do. Guard. He allowed Fyg her chatty time. It had been a slow morning, and he could watch the goings on from here.

The bronze handler's reaction to the root gets a snicker, and Fyg's stony features curl up into an amused smirk. Not a cruel one, but one of understanding and mirth. "Yea, prolly should've. Good for y'though, least that's what they tell me." Whoever 'they' are is not mentioned, for there is a Question and she shakes her head. Her features drop sour instantly and she huffs a breath out into the air. "Shard it all, no. Itchin' to get my hands on th'sack of runner dung what did Perina in, but I ain' heard so much as a wherry fart out this way."

She chewed her root and looked out over the land a moment. The way her eyes worked, and her face contorted, she looked more predator than hunter. Something truly feral, and able. "I need t'ask you somethin' without you gettin' all uppity. Been chewin' at my brain a while an' I figure th'only way it's gonna stop is if I ask you out right without the skirts around to complicate things." She prompted, and then looked at him directly. "If push came t'shove an' you had to, would you die t'protect our Queen and her Handler?"

[Xennai]

Alder huffed a derisive snort accompanied by an amused eye roll. The root was stuck back into his mouth and he chewed at it. If it was good for you, it was good for you. Most things that were didn’t taste good. Life was a canny little sneakster that way. He looked out across the immediate area, nodding lightly.

“They just seem to have disappeared,” he murmured. “No one’s got a whiff of anything. It’s like the bastard is a shadow none of us can see, man or beast.” He growled with agitation, taking a few paces to cool off the frustration. A wher and his handler were built for action, were built to protect. It made him itchy not knowing what they were protecting Caspian from.

Alder glanced up when the brown handler asked for permission to pose a question. He shrugged and nodded, chewing on the root she’d offered. You got used to the taste after a while. He blinked when her question came and answered without a question, “Undoubtedly. A Queen is much more important than any bronze, especially when she’s the only Queen that populates Caspian at this moment.” He shrugged, glancing away. He was wary of talking with Fyg too fully. She was much too liable to use it as ammunition against him should the occasion present himself. He didn’t want that to happen.

He looked back up at her, gaze speculative. He chewed at the root for a few moments and then asked the question that was begging as well. “Would you?” The words were not accusatory, they were not blunt or derisive. It was merely speculative.

[Shekru]

She was watching him. Hawk-like, with those bold yellow eyes. Watched his face, his words, his mouth. Everything when he answered her question, and when he did answer, she nodded, and remained quiet. She mulled his answer over, and did not betray a thought with any expression or quip.

When he asked the same of her, she looked a little surprised. "Kinda thought that was a given. I'd throw myself on a score of blades if it meant keepin' them alive and safe. As you said. A Queen is more important." She chewed her root a few moments before swinging her leg around and sitting sideways on Fygwesk's shoulder so she could look at him straight. "S'why I wasn' keen on you goin' off with her on guard duty. I didn' know if y'would or not. We ain' exactly been frequent t'talk to one another, an' I didn' know if you would protect her." Which 'her' she referred to is unspecified. "Now I know, I ain' got any trouble with it, providin' you ain' lyin' out your hind end at me." There's a smile on the woman's lips there that suggested she was joking. She could joke. "Danae's important, not just 'cause she's a gold handler, but b'cause she's good people. Don' think I need t'tell you that. I don' want her gettin' hurt, be it by things that go bump in th'night, or menfolk what don't know she's worth their whole hearts."

She grunted, then, and closed her eyes a moment before looking out onto the grounds. Nothing, still. "I don' have a problem with you. I have a problem when what you do seems t'get in the way of what we're made for, but I don' have a problem with -you-."

[Xennai]

Alder was aware he was being scrutinized. Intensely. He felt like the mouse under the hawk's eye and it was an uncomfortable feeling. An extremely uncomfortable one. He knew it was necessary, however. He knew Fyg trusted only after full observation.

He knew her answer even before she mentioned it. He knew it simply by her asking him. But she went on, surprisingly, and he swiveled to look at her, shock written across his face before he could contain it. He frowned, listening to her curiously. He bit at his cheek, listening still to her. He inhaled, debating once more. Should he...shouldn't he?

"Fyg..." He glanced at the ground, hands in his pockets. He scuffed at the dirt and glanced back up at her once more. "I would die myself in the place of Danae if I could. I would rather I were cut down to tiny pieces, alive to the last, than have one hair on her head harmed. I..." He swallowed and then looked at the brown handler, gaze fierce, defiant. "I would give her everything I am, every last single piece, if she would accept it. Forever. My whole heart is not nearly enough. I would sell my soul to her should she wish it."

Head dropped again. In the background, Aldesk murmured a growling agreement. The twins had taken off Faranth knew where, but Alder wasn't too concerned about them at that moment. They'd come back sooner or later. "It'd be best to worry about this phantom killer than me when it comes to harming our Queen and her handler."

[Shekru]

Despite the words being lain at her feet, Fyg did not look triumphant, or amused, or as though she had won some unspoken battle. She looked.. concerned, for the beginning, and then by the time he was finished with his first slew of thoughts. She understood. That much she conveyed with ease. Her eyes had softened away from the Raptor's Intent and into a woman's knowing -look-.

"Good." She said, then, and leaned back. "Might wanna add your body t'that list. Thinkin' our Queenhandler doesn' much like t'share. Might make her feel like less, you slakin' your lust in other skins. Just m'two marks, do with it what y'will, but I'm tellin' ya, that'll be a bottle neck if you hope t'catch Danae's eye, much as she's caught yours." All things considered, she's taken the information rather well, and even seems to.. what, be trying to help him? Her demeanor toward him had mutated, also. The Huntress seemed much more at ease. Casual. A far cry from the Knife's Edge woman he had been familiar with up to this point. Fyg had a secret self, and she let him see part of it.

"Shard it all, wherry-brain, I -am- worried about the killer, but there are things I c'n control or change and there are things I can't, so I may as well work with th'ones I can in the meantime." She was frustrated. Death had happened, and it had affected someone close to her, and that was not at all sitting well with Fyg.

Then she looked.. not okay. She turned, moving to the other side of the wher and bowed her upper body downward. Whatever it was, it passed quickly and she stretched backward until her head was between the brown's wings. A few steadying breaths, and she continued. "Might be a womanizin' feather brain, but at least yer intention seems on the level. I ain' got a problem with that."

[Xennai]

Alder was feeling shame and intense embarrassment. He didn't know why he'd told Fyg. He didn't know why he'd given a woman who was sometimes his "enemy" the keys to his most hidden secret. He didn't know why he'd given her ammunition against him.

But she surprised him. She didn't tease, she didn't mock. She actually--understood. And that in itself made the shame and embarrassment fade and then die. He actually stood straight and looked her in the eye. No defiance. No anger. Just himself, just Alder. Apparently, things between the two were changed now.

"My body was a given," he replied, eyes alight with a fire he couldn't contain. Not now, not when he was finally able to admit it to someone other than his bronze and the twins. "It may be hard, but I would do anything for Danae." A grimace picked slightly at his face. No more women for him. The thought of others was demolished by what had happened those few nights ago between the gold and bronze handlers after brown and green had left.

Alder was surprised as something seemed to overcome Fyg. He took a step or two forward, concernation evident on his face. He looked at her, a frown wrinkling thick brows. "And I'm not a womanizer any longer, either," he replied absently. "Are you all right?" He would have touched her, but wasn't quite sure how that would go over. "I am sorry about all this...I didn't realize you were close to her..." He shrugged, not sure what else to say.

[Shekru]

Fyg lay back along Fygwesk's shoulders for a moment, sucking air in slow, deliberate breaths. "Ain' that I'm all that close to 'er, really." She offered, and then turned her head to look at him. "M'father was a rider. Didn' much care 'bout th'women he sewed his seed with, so it was up t'my mother t'raise me. Her da helped. S'pose I just don' like seein' women get used, is all. Touches a nerve or ten. Ain' like I'm out t'prevent every skirt out there from gettin' the same treatment, but I look out for my friends. Danae's one of 'em. S'pose you are, too, a bit." She hadn't answered his 'are you all right' question, but sat up and closed her eyes. Fygwesk rumbled beneath her and while concern wrinkled the ridges above his eyes, he remained vigilent on his task.

"Y'seem like y'got a relatively decent head on yer shoulders, so when y'don' use it, or seem t'think with other parts on ya, drives me a bit nuts. Yer better'n that." A compliment? Will wonders never cease? Fyg turned her yellow eyes back to him and looked at him a long while. She looked a bit pale -- well, more so than usual, and sweat lined her forehead despite the chill in the morning air. "S'like I said. Ain' you I don't like, it's th'stuff you do. But, from what y'been sayin', seems like that's gonna change. Can't say I'm not thrilled. We're Wherhandlers. Better'n most. Ain' arright to go leanin' on the stereotypes of them shardin' dragonriders." She sat back again and looked outward, shoulders hunching in an almost vulture-like manner briefly.

She chewed the inside of her lip momentarily, before swinging her gaze back toward him. "Ain' wrong to sacrifice for someone you love. S'part of giving of yerself. No wine or jewelry or whatever has the power t'mean more." Fyg's thoughts on love. Hee. "Y'oughta find her a nice scroll t'read or somethin'. Playin' to Danae's mind'll serve y'better. Find somethin' she might enjoy."

[Xennai]

Alder noticed that she glossed over what was wrong with her, trying to distract him with other words and other things. Alder took the bait, though he just nipped it off the hook, leaving the line and sinker in the fisherman's hands.

Some of what she gave him though was surprising. Shocking even. He wasn't used to the personal with Fyg. When she told him her circumstances, he felt the surprise filter through him and then some sort of squirming guilt, a kind of burning shame. He wished he could tell her he was different. He was in most cases but there was the few...there were a few times he wasn't...

Alder huffed a sigh, raking a dark hand through his hair. "I can understand your distaste for me then," he murmured. The compliment didn't go unnoticed, backward though it may be. A crooked grin stretched at his lips before his eyes were rolling. His words were muttered under his breath, dark and slightly petulant. "I'm not like some rider. Why does everyone always say that?" Head shook in bemusement before he glanced up at her, one brow rising quizzically.

"You want me to get her a scroll?" He looked confused, his face scrunched up. Oh, he'd catered to a woman's mind before, but this was just downright strange. He'd done that with conversation, with topics of discussion. But a scroll? That just sounded beyond odd to him.

[Shekru]

"Again. Ain't you, it's what you do. Big difference b'tween dislikin' a person outright an' not carin' much for the things they do." Fyg stated, eyeing the horizon when it showed streaks of rich red. The sun was coming up. Things had been quiet that morning. Which was both blessing and curse. The brown handler clearly was not at her best, but there was a killer that needed catching and maiming. Which, all things considered, she was still up to the task of.

When his questions leaned toward scrolls, she turned and looked at him, equally puzzled. "..yeaaaaa." As if his question were in a foreign language. "One containin' somethin' she doesn' know. An' when you give it to her, say you found it interestin' and wanted to hear her thoughts on it. Love ain' always rollin' in the furs." Brows flicked upward. Was there something Fyg knew about love?

The Wher beneath her rumbled, and Fyg looked down at the top of his head. "Looks like our replacements're rollin' outta bed. W'means we'll be able t'sleep soon. Thank Faranth, my head's 'bout ready to leap off m'shoulders an' beat me sound. Plus you need s'm oil, doncha." Fyg patted Fygwesk's shoulder and he crooned in agreement. "S'pose I owe you a little. Don'magine it was easy tellin' me whatcha did. Makes y'feel any better, we're fightin' the same battle. Rather got m'heart thumpin' after a fella in the kitchens." She laughed, then. It was a woman's laugh, the kind with blushing cheeks and secret smiles. A rare, feminine showing from the huntress.