[Druidic Grove] Disenchanting Dissemblance (Thealimn, Aqua, closed)

[Karrkh Ti'Praaal]

47 Immanis, Spring XIV PF (II/II CM)
Morning

Ah, Natura! The city's name and reputation had done nothing but disappoint. Karrkh Ti'Praaal had been looking forward to setting foot in the fabled city where nature and civilization mingled so readily that they were difficult to distinguish - a sacred place of Teila and thus M'Taerowl, the trees twisting up among stone buildings an ever-present reminder of the Deity's grace and omnipresence. Instead she found... this filth.

Perhaps it was just because she had lived in Medonia - a city wherein a Rodenti could be a wildly popular thane, a Katta a baroness and mogul, a lizardman a governor, without the populace batting an eye - for so long that she had forgotten what the rest of the Empire was like; but she didn't think so. Though elves always demonstrated their ill-justified pride and arrogance over other races - as if the smoothskins had anything to be proud of, fleshy little worms - it had always been Karrkh's experience that they got along better with katta than with most races, due to the two groups' mutual reverence for M'Taerowl, though the toothless ones acknowledged only Teila, and called it Carmelya. Orcs, dorin, rodenti... these races deserved to be shunned. Smoothskins would add Vysstichi, because they cared about fur color, and she supposed statistically they had a point. But katta! The noble, the ancient, the wise, those who embrace the true M'Taerowl - how could they treat her like this?!

She had first observed it the evening prior, when she had rode in... Vorona's head drooping with his ears pricked up, glad for the sound of civilization, the clip of metal shoes on stone indicating that he would be sleeping in a stable that darkening. He had not seen it, but she had - malice and distrust in the eyes of those they passed. They wouldn't make eye contact, but she could feel their stares on her skin, her fur pricking up warily. It was a feeling she had almost forgotten, and though she would not admit it to herself, she had, in a perverse way, missed it: the adrenaline, the sharpened senses, the matter-of-fact-ness that perceived physical danger brought. Wariness carried with it the pleasure of giving in to instinct.

This morning it was much worse, and even the energy of instinct long-ignored could not turn her uneasiness into excitement - perhaps because she was no longer on horseback she noticed it more, she reassured herself. Hard and angry eyes followed her everywhere she went; and to her polite, formal, and cordially worded inquiries into the location of the druids she received terse, rude, monosyllabic answers. Finally a large human in a dusty apron, whom she approached while he was sweeping the step of a building that was apparently his shop, told her in a gruff voice that she could find the druids in a grove a candlemark or two to the north. When she had thanked him, said her Seraaas, and turned to go, he surreptitiously sent a cloud of dust towards her with his broom, dirtying the back of her nice green dress - the first dress she had ever owned! - and snickered. She would find that this darkening and serve her right, the usurping beast. Didn't know her place.

***

The Baroness traveled north on foot, her kitten ostensibly following after - she checked behind her every once in a while to make sure nothing had happened to him, but generally allowed him the dignity of independence. But now it had been a candlemark, and the druidic grove could not be far - and Karrkh had a question yet to ask Tea'in before they arrived. She looked around for him again, and upon spotting him, crouched down and beckoned to him.

"Tea'in - would you like me to translate for you when we get there, or would you prefer to speak to them yourselves?" she asked in Kattaoshei, scratching him absently behind the ears. She looked apprehensive, and indeed she was - between the treatment they had received in Natura despite its glowing reputation, and the distrust she held of mages and all their corrupt, unnatural, terrifying power, Karrkh was actually beginning to move past apprehension and into worry. A thought occurred to her and she cocked her head. "What are you going to ask them about, anyway?" Strange that she hadn't asked him before.

[Thealimn U'daeri]

Thealimn didn't notice the wary stares or hard glances that swept thier way quite as much as Karrkh did. He was just a kitten after all, and not worth the harsh emotions directed towards his Katta friend. All the same he did detect the changes in Karrkh's posture and the telltale signs of irritation in her features. Unlike Karrkh however, and unlike his normal self even, he paid little attention to the attitudes of the inferior beings around him. Theal was far too excited.

Natura! Finally we are here, finally I can get some answers. At least I hope so.

He would have an answer, of one sort or another before long. Theal just walked alongside Karrkh as best as he could, being careful to keep her in sight so he didn't get lost in the strange city. Medonia had been frightening at first as well, full of things ready and willing to terrorize a mostly defenseless kitten; he had survived there and would do the same here however.

The kitten eventually noticed Karrkh beckoning to him and walked over, gently pressing his head to her fingers as she scratched him. He was happier than he had been in a while and full of hope.

"Tea'in - would you like me to translate for you when we get there, or would you prefer to speak to them yourselves?" His hopeful mood hit a bump at her question. He sighed a little. Thealimn didn't quite want Karrkh to go away, but at the same time this was probably something he needed to handle on his own. Also there were other concerns. At that moment Karrkh posed her second question, a prime example of those other concerns Theal has just been thinking about.

If this works, it will be an interesting task to explain why her kitten turned into a Katta.

He hadn't told her much, almost nothing in fact. It was partially because he had mixed ideas about thier future prospects as friends, and mostly because he just wasn't sure of all the answers himself. The best route would be to do this alone, and use the time to figure out how he would handle the results.

"Will speak for myself. Questions of the why. I talk to you not other cats. Different and must know why. Something wrong with me? They know? Must ask."

Thealimn shuddered a little, but shrugged too. He was always a bit put off by the degree to which his command of his native tongue had diminished since the change. There wasn't anything he could do about that other than be quiet most of the time though.

[Aqua]

After some time, a clearing opened up in front of the katta and kitten. It was a deliberately picaresque location, with soaring trees and rustling, untouched grasses that seemed to have jumped out of a painting, rather than sprung from the often untidy earth. There was a pool in the clearing, and its waters were utterly still.

"Serale," a soft voice came from the left. It was a green-tinged female figure, undoubtedly a dryad. She had a quiet smile on her face; the expression was the only thing that she was wearing at this exact moment, although her cascading hair covered up all of the bits that might have been important had Karrkh and Thealimn belonged to a different race.

"I am H'annaeryth, a druid of the Grove," she said, inclining her head slightly. "May I be of some service to you?" The question was addressed to Karrkh, very politely.

She seemed to be the only person in the grove at the moment. The air was quiet, with not even the usual forest birdsongs to break up the silence. The stream that had created the pool murmured softly, but otherwise the whole place seemed permeated with an unnatural stillness.

It appeared that H'annaeryth had said all she was going to before Karrkh responded. She looked at the katta with deep green eyes and waited for a reply, leaning slightly on the trunk of a large nearby oak as she did so.