Timestamp: Zi'da 3rd, 720
Calendar Events and Weather
Weather: 1st: The trials continue to get colder, and the first of the snows for the season fall on Zi’da 1st. It lasts for a few trials of snow flurries.
Events: N/A
A pair of guards walked by the foreign woman, looks of concern on their faces as she was now laughing along with the winds. But they just kept on walking, waiting until they were out of earshot to talk about her. Then she heard what sounded like a loud 'oof'. Her eyes snapped open. She recognized that she'd heard that through her Calling ability, but it wasn't the voices of the wind that she had been listening to before. She poured more Ether into her ears, trying to hear that unknown voice again.
She stood up, walking down the path, against the winds, their laughs still loud as they screamed past her gleefully, appreciating another obstacle to race around.
'Oof.'
There it was again, louder, closer. It had a deep, rumbling sound to it. She followed after it, stepping off the path into the brush. Being winter, many of the leaves were fallen and her approach was made loud because of it. Visibility was high as well, able to see through the barren shrubs and bushes that hid beneath the shade of the canopies. And in the distance, just down a small, but steep slope, she saw an animal. It was about as tall as her shoulders, and from what she could see, it was injured. Very injured.
Seeing this creature brought her Becoming Spark out of its slumber. It urged her to go toward it and Hankly complied. She carefully walked down the soft grade of the small hill, the injured creature looking at her with panic in its eyes. Now that she was closer, she could see what happened, or at least the basics of it. This creature, with its long ears and legs fell or stumbled down the steep part of the hill, and now had several broken bones, including its front legs. It was panicking more now as Hankley came close, trying to run away from her. And it broke her heart to see this creature in such pain and fear.
She cooed, calling out to the creature, hoping to calm it down, but it was ignoring her fully. It tried to stand up on its broken legs, and it fell again to the soil, chest first.
'Oof.'
Hankley realised that it was earth that was speaking. She'd not heard earth speak much to her before, certainly not since she had arrived in Desnind. Within Hankley though, her spark was bouncing with excitement. It wanted to be this creature, it wanted her to make it into a totem, and it was expressing this desire impatiently. Hankley didn't want this creature to suffer any more, and just as she had done with Brach, she could ease its pain, and help it live on within her. She pulled her pack off her shoulders, grabbing one of the eating knives from within it.
Knife in hand, Hankley began moving in a circle around the creature, trying to move out of its field of vision, hoping that might reduce its panic more. She could see that one of its back legs was still kicking and scrambling, so she stepped well past that to avoid getting herself hurt. She stepped in close now, standing by the creature's back, just behind its head, and she spoke in her native tongue to it.
"I am sorry for your pain, little one. I will ease it now and give you new life."
She knelt down next to the panicking creature, knife in one hand as she reached toward its neck. Just as it got close, the creature reached back, chomping down hard on forearm with its blunt front teeth. Hankley dropped the knife, pulling her arm back, hissing through her teeth in pain. She clutched at it, staring down at the flesh. It didn't seem to break the skin but she could see the swelling of a bruise beginning to grow. She hoped it wasn't broken, she knew her people were a bit more fragile than others.
She reached out with her good hand now, pressing it against the back of the creature's head, cooing softly as she did. She slowly slid her hand forward, covering the delirious creature's eye as she picked up the knife again. She felt it beginning to calm a bit, though she wasn't sure if that was due to it knowing she was helping it or if it had resigned itself to its fate.
Hankley reached up and dragged the knife along the flesh at the side of its throat. She tried to cut as deep as she could, and the blood began to flow out and spill into the cold soil. And she held the creature as she felt its lifeforce drained away.
Once it was gone, Hankley looked to her spark for guidance. It particularly liked the look of the creature's three toed foot. She nodded, using her knife to find the joint between the foot and the rest of the leg. As she sawed through the limb slowly, she was quick to recognise that she would need a better way to do this in the future. A quicker, more efficient tool it seemed. After much straining, she managed to sever the foot from the creature.
She then looked down the body, seeing a long, hairless tail laying there limply. She moved over and quickly severed that as well. She then cut a hole through the center of the foot, using the stabbing end of her eating knife, and she wiggled it around back and forth until it was big enough. She pushed the tail through the hole, then tied the two ends together. She then draped the roughly made necklace over her head.
Hankley sat next to the dead creature, crossing her legs, placing one hand on the corpse, and another on the foot necklace. She closed her eyes, and began calling upon her spark and its ether, as she meditated, beginning her dedication. She let her ether cycle through her, as she visualised the creature's foot, making the comparison to her own. She traced the similarities and the differences, and as she went, she found her spark excitedly pouring over all these new details. She worked through the structures of the bones, different from her own, stronger. She bridged the connection from her own tailless rump to that of the hairless tail. She continued to bridge the connections, from her own molars to the large crushing teeth that had bit her, from her short stunted ears to the long floppy ones this creature had.
Hankley kept this meditation going, having to lie down or change positions for her own comfort, but she always kept one hand on the dead creature and one on the totem she was dedicating. She could feel her stomach beginning to grumble with hunger and ache for thirst but she continued to push past those needs to finish this dedication. She stayed in that same spot through the evening and into the night. She vaguely remembered hearing guards who regularly walking this route coming over to check on her. She told them in short, terse words what she was doing, and thanked them for checking on her. They nodded, walking off. This was not the first Becomer that had been found in Desnind, but they made sure to make a note of it. Becomers were esteemed people, and they would pass on her location to the next guards so they could check on her too.
It was morning when her spark cut the flow of her ether, and it bounded more tiredly. The dedication was finished, and her totem was formed and finished. She shook off the sleep and the cold of the morning after, standing up creakily. She stepped away from the fallen creature, relieving her aching bladder. Her spark wanted to transform now, but Hankley knew she was far too tired, needing to eat and drink before she could even consider that. She tried to convey that thought to her spark, who went off to pout in a corner of her soul. She sighed, walking over to the dead creature, grabbing a hold of its two back legs. And so began the long trek back to the room she was renting so she could cook and eat this creature, having no desire to let it go to waste. At least it was cold now in the winter, helping to keep the meat from spoiling too quickly.
Hankly grunted tiredly as she hiked uphill, but she had a smile on her face. Once she had gotten some sleep, she could appease her spark. It had been good to her during the dedication, and she would be good to it in return.
Balance in all things.
