50th of Frost, 113
It was a day like any other. Arkash was busy at home with Cojack, Liu was at work. On that day, Arkash had been tending to the sickly horse without pause. They'd run out of Cojack's medicine, but Liu was coming home with more. There was nothing they could do but wait in that sense. So, Akash sat beside Cojack and tried to comfort him with talk alone. It wasn't going well.
Cojack clutched his chest painfully while rust-colored drool trailed from his lips. He was breathing heavily, and his breaths sounded rough, as though they'd been dragged through the gravel of the mines they worked before they left his lungs. Cojack's pained, desperate eyes watched as he carefully mopped up the bloodied phlegm from his lips.
"Stop looking at me like that, dad," spoke the lizard in vithmi. The horse was delirious and seemed to believe that Arkash was keeping the medicine from him.
"Please, Arkash..." wheezed the horse. The lizard merely softened his brow and shook his head. Seeing him like that only broke his heart.
"I already told you, we're out. Mom's getting more on her way home. She gets paid today." Cojack wasn't having it, however. The infirm stallion continued to wheeze, cough, and tremble. The noises that rumbled in his voice made Arkash's stomach churn with dread. He wasn't a doctor, he knew next to nothing about medicine. But they knew Cojack's illness was incurable; a degenerative disease that would very slowly kill him. To imagine what Cojack's lungs must've looked like brought him great distress.
With a sullen frown, Arkash carefully hugged his withered father, who'd been reduced to saggy skin and bone in no less than a year, then stood from the bed after he broke the one-sided embrace. There were a number of things he had to get done before Liu got home, and Cojack distracted him with a series of pained, coarse groans and wails.
Before too long, however, Cojack had fallen back asleep; worn out by his own cries. Arkash only wished that he could escape the sounds as easily. He was getting to be done with his chores: the floor had been swept, their rations of the day were prepared and Arkash had almost finished shoveling the snow from the path that led to their rickety shack.
While he turned over the snow that held the impressions of Liu's pawprints, Arkash thought back to their better days. There was once an age where Arkash was too small to survive in the snow at all. Apparently, he'd even hibernated his first few Frosts, and the second halves of Ash, too. He could last a good few hours since he'd grown up, providing he wore all his furs and it wasn't stormy or too windy.
He had expected Liu to be home shortly after he was done with the snow, so he went back inside, and set the pan with it's one chopped potato on the hearth to boil. There, he sat and stared at the waters while they bubbled slowly, and allowed the ambient heat of the fire to seep into his scales.
His mind wandered while he sat, and he glanced to the floorboard beside the stone fringe of the hearth. Beneath that wooden plank rested a jar with all their savings, along with a couple of other things that were wrapped in hides to protect them from the damp earth. Part of him, a more curious aspect, wondered why Cojack and Liu opted to hide their savings in the first place. Who would think to break into a wooden shack in the middle of the slums? What riches would anyone reasonably assume they were hiding? Perhaps it was because the house was so easily broken into?
His train of thought was derailed when the water in the pot began to bubble and splash aggressively. Arkash blinked and promptly raised the iron support beam with his mitten, then covered the pot with an iron lid. Where was Liu? She was normally home from the produce store by the time he was done cooking. With a shrug, the rathari returned to the fire and sat. He hadn't finished cooking yet, and she was late sometimes. On the bright side, his body had started to warm up again after the chores he'd done out the front of the house. With a deep, relaxing exhale, Arkash laid out on the floor and sprawled.
His yellow eyes trailed the planks of the roof while he let his mind wander, and it danced around the things he'd learned of Liu lately. Her second job, her aggressive, domineering attitude toward... just about everyone aside from Cojack and himself, and her secrets. She'd even said that there was a lot about her and his father that he didn't know. Arkash settled his eyes on the horse at that moment and wondered if he knew of Liu's midnight exploits. A firmer frown pursed his lips, as that was yet another thing he needed to ask the two about.
Time rolled on, and Liu still had yet to return. Dismissal turned into consideration, then into worry by the time the water in the pan had cooled completely. Arkash groaned and rolled to his feet. His whole body was at peak warmth, which meant that he could go out if he needed to. Arkash peered through the gaps in the door, just to check if there was any sign of her as the sun began to set. Nothing. She'd never been that late before, she was always home plenty of time before the sunset.
So, arkash wrapped his claws and looked to the sickly horse as he laid in bed, then pushed out into the freezing cold streets of Lower Nivenhain. It was snowing, but it wasn't a storm. From that moment, he had maybe two hours to find her, at best. So, he started on the road to the produce store. There weren't many people out, unsurprisingly. Even though he hated it, he approached one of them.
"'Ey, Sir?" Obvious concern lined his eyes as he approached the siltori, who was wrapped up warm with real clothes, not furs like Arkash.
"...Yeah?" Returned the elf with a quirk to his brow. "The hell's a Rathari doing in Lorien? Aren't you freezing?"
"Yeah. I was born 'ere," he clarifies with his rougher common accent. "Ah, anyway. I'm lookin' for anoth'r Rathari, tall wolf lady, grey 'n white coat." For emphasis, he held his hand way above his head and elevated to the tips of his claws. "'As she been through 'ere?"
The tall elf watched the lizard curiously, then shook his head with a smile. "I'm afraid not. What, is she your mother or something?" The elf must've thought he was clever, as he smirked.
"Yeah, she is," spoke the younger of the two in response. "Thanks f'r ya time; I've gotta keep lookin'."
The elf's smile faded, but he offered a polite bow of his head all the same. Arkash bowed his head in turn, then took off down the street. He jogged, he couldn't waste time. He had to find her.
The cold air cut him to the bone, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Part of his panic addled mind resolved to stay out until he found her, but he risked freezing. At the rate he was going, he could at least make it to the produce store and back before he'd bled all his heat. Near the transition between lower and outer Nivenhain, arkash spotted another person to question; a human woman. His heart sank a little as he looked upon her, but he advanced anyway.
"S'cuse me, miss?" he asked. She reeked of something Arkash was willing to bet was illegal.
At once, the woman screamed a deep, masculine bellow, and Arkash backed away. "THE FUCK 'OU SAY T' ME 'OU ORRIBLE LI'L MONSTA?!" She screeched. The rathari continued to back away while she practically foamed at the mouth.
"I-I just want'd to kno-" he stammered before she screamed again.
"FACK AUFF YA DOSY CANT! I'M NOT 'AVIN' IT! NOT TADEH!" She was actually mad. Arkash didn't know what she was seeing, but it couldn't have been him. Slowly, he backed away, then turned tail and bolted as she feinted a lunge. She was ready to fight.
Arkash hurried along the frozen streets, but the cold air was tearing up his lungs. He came to rest beside some sort of tavern, with another broad-shouldered human standing outside it. "Sir," he asked between breaths and watched the human with caution. The man only looked to him with a raised brow, which Arkash perceived to be acknowledgment. "Have ya seen a wolf, about this tall-?" Again, he stretched up with his claws held way overhead.
"Piss off," came the stern reply. "I 'aven't got time for 'ese games."
"Theyn't games..." Started the Rathari, only to catch a face full of loud as the human turned on a dime.
"I SAID PISS OFF!" Screamed the human at the top of his lungs. Arkash could see his veins bulging at his temples, the black of his throat. Venom began to pour in his maw. In a split-second decision, he chose to flee and weaved around the larger male with ease before he continued his run through the snow.
He didn't ask anyone else, partly because he didn't encounter another non-human along the way, but also because the wind had picked up a bit; he would need to return home faster. Eventually, he made it all the same, and the streets were turning dark. he hadn't seen her at all. The shop was closed, it had been for some time. A hard slurp saw him clutch his chest. His heart was beating out of his chest while he fought back tears.
Maybe she made it back? Maybe he'd just missed her? The sliver of false hope steadied his heart and breathing a bit. By the time he arrived back home, it was gone. Liu was missing. He was cold, shaken, and on the verge of bawling. Cojack was still asleep, but Arkash would stay up that entire night.
It was a day like any other. Arkash was busy at home with Cojack, Liu was at work. On that day, Arkash had been tending to the sickly horse without pause. They'd run out of Cojack's medicine, but Liu was coming home with more. There was nothing they could do but wait in that sense. So, Akash sat beside Cojack and tried to comfort him with talk alone. It wasn't going well.
Cojack clutched his chest painfully while rust-colored drool trailed from his lips. He was breathing heavily, and his breaths sounded rough, as though they'd been dragged through the gravel of the mines they worked before they left his lungs. Cojack's pained, desperate eyes watched as he carefully mopped up the bloodied phlegm from his lips.
"Stop looking at me like that, dad," spoke the lizard in vithmi. The horse was delirious and seemed to believe that Arkash was keeping the medicine from him.
"Please, Arkash..." wheezed the horse. The lizard merely softened his brow and shook his head. Seeing him like that only broke his heart.
"I already told you, we're out. Mom's getting more on her way home. She gets paid today." Cojack wasn't having it, however. The infirm stallion continued to wheeze, cough, and tremble. The noises that rumbled in his voice made Arkash's stomach churn with dread. He wasn't a doctor, he knew next to nothing about medicine. But they knew Cojack's illness was incurable; a degenerative disease that would very slowly kill him. To imagine what Cojack's lungs must've looked like brought him great distress.
With a sullen frown, Arkash carefully hugged his withered father, who'd been reduced to saggy skin and bone in no less than a year, then stood from the bed after he broke the one-sided embrace. There were a number of things he had to get done before Liu got home, and Cojack distracted him with a series of pained, coarse groans and wails.
Before too long, however, Cojack had fallen back asleep; worn out by his own cries. Arkash only wished that he could escape the sounds as easily. He was getting to be done with his chores: the floor had been swept, their rations of the day were prepared and Arkash had almost finished shoveling the snow from the path that led to their rickety shack.
While he turned over the snow that held the impressions of Liu's pawprints, Arkash thought back to their better days. There was once an age where Arkash was too small to survive in the snow at all. Apparently, he'd even hibernated his first few Frosts, and the second halves of Ash, too. He could last a good few hours since he'd grown up, providing he wore all his furs and it wasn't stormy or too windy.
He had expected Liu to be home shortly after he was done with the snow, so he went back inside, and set the pan with it's one chopped potato on the hearth to boil. There, he sat and stared at the waters while they bubbled slowly, and allowed the ambient heat of the fire to seep into his scales.
His mind wandered while he sat, and he glanced to the floorboard beside the stone fringe of the hearth. Beneath that wooden plank rested a jar with all their savings, along with a couple of other things that were wrapped in hides to protect them from the damp earth. Part of him, a more curious aspect, wondered why Cojack and Liu opted to hide their savings in the first place. Who would think to break into a wooden shack in the middle of the slums? What riches would anyone reasonably assume they were hiding? Perhaps it was because the house was so easily broken into?
His train of thought was derailed when the water in the pot began to bubble and splash aggressively. Arkash blinked and promptly raised the iron support beam with his mitten, then covered the pot with an iron lid. Where was Liu? She was normally home from the produce store by the time he was done cooking. With a shrug, the rathari returned to the fire and sat. He hadn't finished cooking yet, and she was late sometimes. On the bright side, his body had started to warm up again after the chores he'd done out the front of the house. With a deep, relaxing exhale, Arkash laid out on the floor and sprawled.
His yellow eyes trailed the planks of the roof while he let his mind wander, and it danced around the things he'd learned of Liu lately. Her second job, her aggressive, domineering attitude toward... just about everyone aside from Cojack and himself, and her secrets. She'd even said that there was a lot about her and his father that he didn't know. Arkash settled his eyes on the horse at that moment and wondered if he knew of Liu's midnight exploits. A firmer frown pursed his lips, as that was yet another thing he needed to ask the two about.
Time rolled on, and Liu still had yet to return. Dismissal turned into consideration, then into worry by the time the water in the pan had cooled completely. Arkash groaned and rolled to his feet. His whole body was at peak warmth, which meant that he could go out if he needed to. Arkash peered through the gaps in the door, just to check if there was any sign of her as the sun began to set. Nothing. She'd never been that late before, she was always home plenty of time before the sunset.
So, arkash wrapped his claws and looked to the sickly horse as he laid in bed, then pushed out into the freezing cold streets of Lower Nivenhain. It was snowing, but it wasn't a storm. From that moment, he had maybe two hours to find her, at best. So, he started on the road to the produce store. There weren't many people out, unsurprisingly. Even though he hated it, he approached one of them.
"'Ey, Sir?" Obvious concern lined his eyes as he approached the siltori, who was wrapped up warm with real clothes, not furs like Arkash.
"...Yeah?" Returned the elf with a quirk to his brow. "The hell's a Rathari doing in Lorien? Aren't you freezing?"
"Yeah. I was born 'ere," he clarifies with his rougher common accent. "Ah, anyway. I'm lookin' for anoth'r Rathari, tall wolf lady, grey 'n white coat." For emphasis, he held his hand way above his head and elevated to the tips of his claws. "'As she been through 'ere?"
The tall elf watched the lizard curiously, then shook his head with a smile. "I'm afraid not. What, is she your mother or something?" The elf must've thought he was clever, as he smirked.
"Yeah, she is," spoke the younger of the two in response. "Thanks f'r ya time; I've gotta keep lookin'."
The elf's smile faded, but he offered a polite bow of his head all the same. Arkash bowed his head in turn, then took off down the street. He jogged, he couldn't waste time. He had to find her.
The cold air cut him to the bone, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Part of his panic addled mind resolved to stay out until he found her, but he risked freezing. At the rate he was going, he could at least make it to the produce store and back before he'd bled all his heat. Near the transition between lower and outer Nivenhain, arkash spotted another person to question; a human woman. His heart sank a little as he looked upon her, but he advanced anyway.
"S'cuse me, miss?" he asked. She reeked of something Arkash was willing to bet was illegal.
At once, the woman screamed a deep, masculine bellow, and Arkash backed away. "THE FUCK 'OU SAY T' ME 'OU ORRIBLE LI'L MONSTA?!" She screeched. The rathari continued to back away while she practically foamed at the mouth.
"I-I just want'd to kno-" he stammered before she screamed again.
"FACK AUFF YA DOSY CANT! I'M NOT 'AVIN' IT! NOT TADEH!" She was actually mad. Arkash didn't know what she was seeing, but it couldn't have been him. Slowly, he backed away, then turned tail and bolted as she feinted a lunge. She was ready to fight.
Arkash hurried along the frozen streets, but the cold air was tearing up his lungs. He came to rest beside some sort of tavern, with another broad-shouldered human standing outside it. "Sir," he asked between breaths and watched the human with caution. The man only looked to him with a raised brow, which Arkash perceived to be acknowledgment. "Have ya seen a wolf, about this tall-?" Again, he stretched up with his claws held way overhead.
"Piss off," came the stern reply. "I 'aven't got time for 'ese games."
"Theyn't games..." Started the Rathari, only to catch a face full of loud as the human turned on a dime.
"I SAID PISS OFF!" Screamed the human at the top of his lungs. Arkash could see his veins bulging at his temples, the black of his throat. Venom began to pour in his maw. In a split-second decision, he chose to flee and weaved around the larger male with ease before he continued his run through the snow.
He didn't ask anyone else, partly because he didn't encounter another non-human along the way, but also because the wind had picked up a bit; he would need to return home faster. Eventually, he made it all the same, and the streets were turning dark. he hadn't seen her at all. The shop was closed, it had been for some time. A hard slurp saw him clutch his chest. His heart was beating out of his chest while he fought back tears.
Maybe she made it back? Maybe he'd just missed her? The sliver of false hope steadied his heart and breathing a bit. By the time he arrived back home, it was gone. Liu was missing. He was cold, shaken, and on the verge of bawling. Cojack was still asleep, but Arkash would stay up that entire night.
