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 Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 1:31 pm
The kitten nodded at Delila's words.
"No, I don't think Jei saw her. She was gone when I woke up. But I didn't recognize her voice. I know the voices of everyone here, since they've all yelled at me before. She wasn't a Quicktalon. She made me feel strange when she talked. Told me to look over the edge."
Eris brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She didn't seem overly troubled at the idea of a strange cougar talking to kittens on cliffs. She gazed up and the other red-eyed kitten, a small bit of concern in her eyes.
"Do you think I'm sick, Delila? Will they hurt me?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:00 pm
Delila's alarm only increased at this new information. She'd told Eris to look over the edge of the cliff? Had she intended to push her or something? Maybe Jei had shown up in time to startle her and she ran away. But that didn't make sense...why would an adult run from a kitten? And why bother setting up some elaborate scheme to push a strange kitten off a cliff? Okay, maybe that wasn't the case.
She was shaken out of her thoughts by the sound of her name, and she looked up at Eris, conflicted. Should she lie and assure her that nothing was wrong? It wasn't in her nature though, and she wasn't sure she could do so convincingly. She'd have to be honest and stick with the truth.
"Eris...I honestly don't know." She shook her head, looking down at the ground for a moment before meeting Eris' gaze again, staring deep into red eyes so like her own. "There could be a number of explanations for this though. If there IS an intruder to Quicktalon territory, especially one with malevolent intentions, then we need to let someone know. Someone with the power to do something about it." She paused, hesitating before reaching out and placing her hand on Eris' arm reassuringly. She had no idea what prompted her to do it, but it just felt right. "I can tell you that I intend to get to the bottom of this, Eris. Whatever is going on, I want to help you figure it out."
Perhaps she should entertain the thought that something a bit more unusual was going on. Quicktalons were warriors by nature, but that didn't rule out the mystical. Afterall, their chieftess was a warrior mage...and strange things had been known to happen to the Quicktalons like any other tribe. There was the peculiar behavior of the winds on the Gust Cliffs concerning Eris to consider.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:22 pm
"Thanks Delila. I don't want Jei to know, it will make her worry too much. Promise you'll keep it our secret?"
Ok, that was unlike Eris. She was always looking to have her sister invovled. Now she didn't even want Jei to know anything that happened to her or that someone else was doing something about it.
"So what do we do? No one will believe me if I tell them. I'm the useless one."
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:37 pm
Delila was shocked, but didn't show it. Instead, she nodded, saying, "I promise, Eris. Our secret."
Now, what to do next? She merely nodded again at the 'useless' comment, as it didn't really mean anything anymore. They both knew it wasn't true, even if others in the tribe might still believe it. They just had to acknowledge it as something that would have to be dealt with. "Alright, I can do the actual walking work, but I'm going to need your help in figuring this out, too, okay, Eris? Who should we go to first? I'm not exactly on casual speaking terms with any of the adults of the tribe. Plus, we don't know who is going to be most helpful. If we just start asking anyone we see, word is going to get out and soon I may not be much help to you either." If the adults thought she was spending too much time with Eris and asking strange questions, they could decide Delila was just as 'useless' and start ignoring her too.
"We have to decide who has the best chance of knowing something about this strange caped cougar and at the same time won't dismiss us as being crazy for asking." She frowned, resting her chin in her paws as she stared at a nearby tree, not really seeing it as she was lost in thought.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 2:48 pm
"Ok, I'll do my best. What about Moriean? She's a daughter of the mountains. She's been training with Lyka lately. The only other person I can think of would be Vixa. She's the oldest and might have heard of the cougar."
Eris had considered her vision to be spirit related so Vixa seemed and obvious choice for the unusual.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:01 pm
The more she thought about it, the more Delila favored the idea of going to Vixa. If anyone could help them, it would be her, right? Plus, she seemed less likely to automatically dismiss the kittens as crazy without hearing them out first. She was an elder of the tribe and more familiar with the strange happenings of the mystical realm. Maybe this had something to do with spirits, and not an actual cougar afterall.
"Okay, we'll try Vixa first. I haven't seen Moriean or Lyka in a while anyway. If Vixa can't help us, I'll try and hunt Moriean down and ask her. She would be a good source of information about the cliffs themselves." Delila stood, reaching for Eris' hand to help her up. "Come on! Let's see if we can't solve this mystery!" She smiled, a rare occurrence and worthy of note. For once, she felt like she had a friend and together they had a goal.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:10 pm
Eris accepted the hand up and also smiled at Delila. Finally, someone other than her sister who liked her. It felt nice.
"Ok, we'll go talk to Vixa."
She walked quietly with Delila, not talking any more. She was thinking again, trying to remember what she had seen.
Said Shameness was currently mixing a batch of healing salve and pain killer potions in her cave. One night she had a vision where she knew she would need some. She turned her head when she heard the steps of kittens coming into her cave. One was Eris, the useless kitten that was constantly annoying the adults and getting picked on by the other kittens. The other was Delila, the one Theta had spoken to Vixa about. Apparently the kitten was already showing adult tendancies and this spoke of her coming ceremony to the shamen. But what was she doing with Eris?
"What do you two want?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:23 pm
Delila quickly bowed in respect, knowing that now it was her turn to take charge. She'd promised she'd take care of the talking part, despite her lack of experience in dealing with others, and she was determined to do her best.
"Please forgive our interruption, shamaness, but I..." She hesitated for a moment, rephrasing, "We needed to ask you something. We wanted to know if you or any of the other elders have seen a mysterious cloaked cougar in the mountains recently?" If nothing else, that should get Vixa's attention. Intruders to Quicktalon territory were a constant threat and high on the list of the tribe's priorities of problems.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:28 pm
"Cloaked cougars? What are talking about? None of our border patrols wear cloaks."
She stood up and walked over to the kittens, towering over them.
"When did you see a cloaked cougar? Why hasn't any of the adults, the only ones allowed up in the mountains, told me or Theta about a cloaked cougar?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:35 pm
Delila gulped softly, fighting the sudden instinct to flee. No, I promised I'd help Eris and I'm not about to break a promise. No matter what it may cost me.
Steeling her resolve, she kept her head bowed slightly in respect. "I haven't seen her myself. Eris saw her, even spoke to her, but she never saw her face beneath the hood of her cloak. We came to you because we figured that if anyone would know anything about this cougar, you would." She paused for a moment before plunging forward. "Especially if this figure isn't quite what she seems. In case...she's not a natural cougar."
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 3:55 pm
Vixa noticed the bravery of the kitten, Theta had been correct in her take on the kit. But the idea of a strange faceless cougar wandering the mountains was a bad sign. She turned to Eris and spoke in a harsh tone.
"Eris, tell me what you saw. Right now."
Eris shrank a little, her usual method of taking a hit in a softer way. But when the hit didn't come she looked up at the elder.
"Well, I was up on Gust Cliffs. And suddenly she was there, I hadn't seen her approach me. And she didn't come from the path from the tribe. When the elder cougar started talking to me, she wouldn't raise her hood so I couldn't see her. She said....um....something about being free. I thought maybe she ment about being up in the mountains. But then she told me to look over the edge into the abyss at the bottom of the cliffs. And then I blacked out. Jei found me there, alone."
Being free? Looking over the cliff? Sounded like a troublesome spirit trying to trick a cougar into falling. She walked over to her fire and tossed in some herbs. Some rose and formed into a face.
"Mountain, tell me, what spirits live on the Gust Cliffs?"
The face was smoky and vague, but obviously had two eyes and a mouth.
"Spirits yes.....dead cougars....fallen.....some scared...some angry......some lonely.......one older than others.......one who seeks a child........"
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:06 pm
Delila's eyes widened and she took an involuntary step back in surprise. She'd heard of Vixa's powers and visions of course, but she'd never actually SEEN her use her powers like this before. A face made of smoke...that could speak?!?
Vixa had addressed the mountain directly, so did that mean that this face was of the mountain itself? She'd heard of some cougars who could hear the voice of the mountain, but never imagined anything like this. Were they truely dealing with spirits then? This wasn't a real, solid cougar?
It was a relief that the shamaness was taking them seriously afterall, but her concern for the matter was disconcerting. Perhaps this matter spread beyond just a strange occurrance with a kitten. The voice of the smokey face sent chills up Delila's spine and she had to steel her resolve once more to hold her position. She wasn't familiar with the mystical realm and this was almost too much for the poor kitten to take in at once. Spirits of the dead, angry and searching for a living child? Well, she assumed they meant a living child.
Her glance darted over to Eris, seeing the spotted kitten in a new light. What if she was the one they wanted? It would explain some of the strange events up on the Gust Cliffs. Well, not explain exactly. The wind favored her and odd things seemed to happen when Eris was around, but that didn't explain what these spirits could actually want with the kit.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:12 pm
"Tell me mountain, what spirit makes contact with the living on those cliffs?"
"All spirits do.......all try......never just one...."
"hmmm, well it seems Eris has been contacted by a spirit. But there are a lot of spirits up there. Those Cliffs keep their dead, they don't let the spirit of the cougar escape. Tell me, has anything other than that mysterious cougar happened?"
She looked to the two kittens with a piercing glance.
Eris........refused to say anything. For some reason she didn't want to talk about what had happened last time, or what happened when she sang up there. So she just stood behind Delila, looking over her shoulder.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:27 pm
Delila noted that Eris was hiding behind her now. Ah well, she'd promised to help with the older cougars. Delila had gotten herself into this.
"I can't think of anything in partic--" Delila froze mid-word, a sudden thought occurring to her. The wind! The strange instances after Eris would sing when the wind would lift her into the air... Was this the time to bring that up? She glanced back again, then realized that Eris certainly wasn't about to say anything. Technically, it was her secret to keep, but...if it had something to do with the mystery at hand, then it needed to be said, no matter who told Vixa.
"Yes, actually. I've seen it myself, Lyka and I were both present, in fact. One evening, Eris was up on the cliffs singing, and Lyka and I were standing nearby. When she finished singing though, the winds picked up, stronger than usual, and lifted Eris into the air. She sort of just hovered there for a while before the winds tossed her onto a nearby ledge." The story just poured out of her as her mouth struggled to keep up with her racing mind as she recounted the story. She realized she'd just admitted to being up on the cliffs herself when she wasn't supposed to. This hadn't been such a big deal with Lyka, but this was Vixa. Still speaking quickly, she tried not to stumble over her words. "I know kittens aren't supposed to be up on the Cliffs, Shamaness, and that I disobeyed. Please forgive me." She dropped her head in shame, prepared to take her punishment for her actions.
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Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2006 4:33 pm
"Oh please, every kitten in this tribe has disobeyed that rule. Its just there to remind you that you can die up there. And that we will feel no remorse over your death if you are that stupid. But you say the wind picked her up and slammed her into the wall? Eris, is that true?"
She glanced behind Delila, easier when her head was bowed, and stared at the spotted on.
Eris just looked at her, her vacant gaze in place, hiding from the world again. Then she turned away, not looking at Vixa or saying anything.
"Hmph, well perhaps she stirred up the spirits with her singing. I've heard her sing when I'm out looking for herbs, she's ok at it but its not a talent a Quicktalon should be practicing."
She stood and thought for a moment, then it came to her.
"Wait a moment. I think I have the answer. Right after Eris was born, her mother walked off those cliffs. No one really knows why but we do know she died there. That spirit the mountain said that was searching for a child, may be Eris's own mother. The wind is part of the cliffs, perhaps she is still trying to protect her cub. Interesting. Well Eris, it seems you are not COMPLETELY useless but you still have a lot to learn. The spirits seem to have a knack of speaking to you in physical form. We shall see what happens."
She turned back the fire and the face disappeared.
"You can go now. Its nothing to be afraid of. Simply a trapped spirit trying to do what it can to affect the living. Freedom from the cliffs and wanting to see her daughter. That is all it is."
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