Hear My Scream

[Anjali Raskor]

Ashes. Blood. Fire. Death.

Hell had been unleashed. The tribute had been paid to its highest bid.

Anjali had been away when the eruption had shattered her home, claimed her younger sisters' lives. Anger smothered her. The thirst for revenge burnt hot within her soul, darkening any shreds of innocence she might felt in scarce times when watching Lira and Lyta play together before bedtime. Their mother had been seized by unknown forces and killed while performing her duty as a Sister of the Voritor (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sister_of_the_Voritor). For the past years, Anjali had watched over her siblings, but to no avail.

She was alone and fleeing was the only choice she had left to survive. And no matter which magic she would have to use or how often her weapon would be coated in her foes' blood, she would take her stand. She would carry on, for nothing else was acceptable.

Sweat, tears and dust covered her body as she pressed on further to find a place to pause, away from the chaos.

[Megaera]

Whatever happy ending Megaera had naively imagined for herself had ended after leaving the Dreaming River valley. (http://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?23262-End-of-Days-Horizon-Burning-(Tristan)) Tristan had returned to her from the Crucible arena as a Nightbrother, wearing the cuffs and shoulder armor that he had fought for with his life. She too had successfully passed her own trials, after calling upon the Mist to create a Talisman of Finding (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Talisman_of_Finding) and was now considered a Shaman of the Nightsisters (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shaman_of_the_Nightsisters). The Spirits of Dathomir, which had whispered to her at times in the past, now plagued her incessantly. Tristan had healed, and they had been able to return to the clan together. There ended the fairy tale. Their love had a terrible cost.

Ashes. Blood. Fire. Death.

That was all that was left of the ancestral home lands of her mother's, Mother's. Her sister Asherah was missing. Her beloved older brother Arikos had died trying to reach their mother who was trapped beyond a lava field. Matier...in the end, she had thrown her lightsaber to Megaera, and then gone to meet her fate with her usual sadistic, hungry gaze. Megaera had gone hoarse screaming, fighting Tristan viciously, trying to stop her. She had lost her entire family, and most of her clan.

It did not end there. They had been moving constantly ever since. No one was left untouched by the destruction. Many clans had been disposed from their lands, scattered, or eliminated. Some of Allya's Daughter's had even forsaken her blessed Book of Law, seeing that in the end it was a world where only predators could survive. The first days had been the worst. Then the air, the Mist, had been full of ashes. The water had become poisoned. No matter which way they went, they land was covered with rivers of flame, setting the jungles and forests ablaze. Everything was on fire. They'd had to steal. They'd had to kill. They had survived.

Safe for now, Megaera still could not rest. Sitting with her back against the half-burned stump of what had once been a great tree, she tried to keep the images out of her mind long enough to listen to the spirits. There was no consolation they could give her, but they might be able to offer her their wisdom and guidance. Closing her green eyes, she drifted..

The Mist surrounded her, but it was curiously devoid of voices. In fact it was as eerily quiet as the ash coated land they presently traveled through, like they were under a spell of silent, filthy snowfall. There was someone or something ahead of her in the rolling mist. Moving toward it she stopped as she saw what it was, a voritor lizard, a poisonous species, but that would not mean anything in her formless state. She was curious about what it could mean when it suddenly rushed at her, as if threatened. It charged at her, running right through her...

Which shook her out from her trance with a mild curse. Rubbing at her sooty face, Megaera resumed her watch. Ahead of her in the trees, something was approaching...

[Anjali Raskor]

She who looks beyond what you can see.
You who listens beyond what she can hear.
The lava blurs all lines.


Anjali didn't know why the clan mother's words came back to her as she opened her eyes. She still remembered the scene so vividly. She had been just a child when she had first been presented to the clan mother. Arala, the leader of the Clan of the Lavender Drift, named after the unusual stream of water, its banks filled with all kinds of flowers used for healing, had been a woman of few words. It had been why such a prophecy as it had sounded like one, had surprised everyone. There were no shamans in Anjali's bloodline. All sisters had been most powerful at tapping into the physical realm, embracing the nature, more than seeing what hid in space and time.

There was no time to reflect on the past. She had to keep moving. She was irate with herself for having passed out because of exhaustion. As she pulled herself back to her feet, she felt her throat parched. She hadn't eaten anything since before she had found the carnage. She had no time to hunt now. And there was certainly no fruit in sight. Water was needed though.

Looking around, and trusting her connection with her mother land, for what remained intact or struggling to survive, she put one foot in front of the other. Refusing to let her guard down again. She eventually found a body of water, which seemed clean enough to drink from it. Crouching, the water was a blessing from Allya herself. She gulped more and more, not knowing when she would be able to do that again. She still had her flask with her, one of the few items she had on her in her escape into the unknown.

Then she heard a little clicking and hissing sound. Bright eyes shot up and on the other side of the river, she saw the voritor lizard. Given its demeanor and size, the creature must be only a few months old. It had probably lost its group in the cataclysm. It was staring at her. She should have been wary of it, but she wasn't. She had befriended her mother's voritor when merely a baby. She clicked her tongue and the creature stared longer at her, before scampering off.

Anjali followed the lizard.

She couldn't comprehend where he was taking her to, but she knew that it knew the way, whatever this way was. For a moment, she lost sight of him. And she felt someone further ahead. Pressing on, she came to a halt after some dead woods she had traversed. She didn't realize that she would be observed by that other someone.

Her attention rested on the lizard which now awaited her. As she crouched near it, she thought that it already was maybe six month old, for it already was a little less than a meter long. She clicked her tongue again, making some hissing noises. The poisonous lizard looked up at her as if it had found a new mother or alpha. She believed it was closer to a mother given its age.

"What's your name?" She asked the creature, before hissing again. The voritor tilted its head and came closer. Anjali didn't move and watched the lizard sniff the lightsaber at her hilt. While her large sword had been her weapon and only hers, the lightsaber had belonged to her mother, and had the tribal sign of the Sister of the Voritor engraved on the hilt. The lizard pressed its face against the hilt, before resting its head on her knee, a tacit testimony of trust. She smiled for the first time since the tragedy as she gently and yet firmly laid her fingers on the lizard's head. "Hello Iss-ka. I am Anjali." The voritor was female and had allowed her to know her name. Her mother's lizard had been a male called Ess-ir. She had mostly encountered male voritors, for the female were often more dangerous.

[Wynn Ti]

The land weeps red.

The girl runs before the tears of the world, the trees flaming and popping behind her, the wet sap inside them overheating in an instant. The initial eruption had spared her clan, but their wells were sulfurous and they had been forced to leave their ancestral home. The girl doesn't know how long it's been. Many days of walking.

The rancors had run off in the night, a few clansisters chased them. And the land had split once more, the lava coming up. So she runs, and does not know if any survive behind her. By chance she picks a direction where the ground does not open under her feet - she runs in the footsteps of the rancors, but cannot hope to keep up. In her arms her baby sister is quiet. She has been entrusted with her by their mother. The air chokes them both, rancid and poisonous in their lungs.

When the girl finally dares rest, the baby remains quiet. Sleeping. She ties her sister to her chest with care, and walks on, searching for water.

[Megaera]

Rolling onto the soles of her boots, Megaera gripped a bloodied dagger tight in her fist ready to tear into whatever, whoever was coming out of the rolling smoke. She would rather be wrong than dead. Borders between rival clans had become non-existent, but with ash coating everything, it was hard to tell friend from foe. Megaera wasn't sure if it even mattered at this point.

She hesitated when she saw the voritor lizard from her vision, knowing that it must be more than coincidence. Megaera did not believe in coincidence. Sure enough in the next heartbeat there was another witch nearby, right behind the poisonous reptile. She spoke to the lizard and it understood her, in much the same way the Nightsisters of the Burning Mist clan had domesticated their rancor. Many witches had this ability, but in this case Megaera felt the words themselves move through the Mist to her and for a second, too she could sense her pain..

This was the first safe place they had found in days. Others would be finding it as well, crawling out of fires and death. If she was not going to sleep, and the Spirits clearly wanted her find this, Anjali she would try to have some faith. Lowering her weapon, but maintaining her grip on it, Megaera rose to her feet.

"Hello Anjali...", she responded cautiously, looking beyond her to see if there was anyone else, but Anjali was clearly on her own. "I am Megaera.."

[Anjali Raskor]

Anjali was aware that someone else was nearby, a little further ahead but she had given time to the lizard, feeling that this was what she was meant to do. While her mother had been prone to domesticate the reptile meant for her specialty, the witch had shown a talent more uncanny than most of her bloodline. She had never further much studying in it, for she had mostly been trained in combat and magic others than the ones related to beast communication.

Getting to her feet when she felt someone closer, she looked at the blonde, and instinctively rested her hand on the hilt of her sword, but she didn't draw it. Iss-ka trotted to her side, her tail flapping at the ashes on the ground, while she stared at the other witch. She wasn't from her clan; and she couldn't tell whether she was from an enemy one. The eruption had boiled too much down, destroyed too many places and tossed too many people onto new trails for survival. It was hard to know who was what in these dire times.

The lava blurs all lines.

The clan mother's words came back to her again and she heard Iss-ka hiss quietly. She had a quieting gesture at the poisonous lizard as she stared at the blonde. If the woman introduced herself, it might be a good sign, though Anjali knew better than to lower her guard all at once, if ever.

"Hello, Megaera." There was pain and anger and desolation in the air, both between and within them. It was obvious that the other survivor had also lost much, if not everything. "I am from the Clan of the Lavender Drift. I didn't meet other survivors from my home."

[Tristan Alastor]

Tristan woke with a start, the image of the sky on fire scorched onto the back of his eyes. He gasped for breath and felt his lungs burn. The ash was everything. It clung to his clothes, his hair, his skin. It threatened to choke him, to overwhelm him with a fit of coughing – but he forced himself to be still.

He could hear voices: Meg and.. a stranger. Adrenaline seared through whatever remained of his fatigue as his hand went for his spear. The weapon was never far from his side, even when he was sleeping.

Within a heartbeat he was on his feet, eyes fixed on the unfamiliar figure. He'd been alongside the tree-stump where Meg had sat watching guard, but now strode out towards his mate with a frown creased into his ash-smeared brow.

[Megaera]

Lavender Drift..she had heard of it, but she had never been to those lands herself. Not only was it beyond their own borders, it was behind enemy lines. Any interaction their clans would have had together in the past would have been eventful. Megaera did not offer up their clan name right away, for more than one reason.. It could be that it might make a mutually beneficial situation go bad, and also she could not talk about Matier right now.. Even her name brought painful images into the Nightsister's mind, but she nodded to indicate it was the same with them as well. There were so few of them.

Sensing Tristan coming up behind her, Megaera turned toward him and shook her head subtly. It did not mean that she did not think the other witch was not dangerous. In fact, the sword she carried confirmed this to be so. Right now she was not a threat to them. That was the least worst that they could hope for.

"We have not.. seen many survivors.", she admitted. Her words came out forced, raspy. Talking at all was clearly causing her discomfort. On top of all the screaming Megaera had done to herself, the heat and smoke had done their work.

"It did not always go well when we did."

They were of a mixed opinions on how to proceed. Some were of the opinion that the lava was how Dathomir was going to rid herself of weakness, and that those who required saving deserved their death. It was not a view she shared, but her views were not always very popular.

[Anjali Raskor]

Anjali watched as a man walked up to Megaera's side. He wasn't just a meek nightbrother. He seemed protective of the blonde. Her vibrant eyes returned to the other woman though. One way or the other, she felt that it would be the conversation between both of them which would decide on how things would unfold. She also caught how she didn't offer her own clan name. Her stance was difficult to read, but they weren't at each other's throat yet. Maybe a lesser evil might bring good things for a possible tomorrow.

"I doubt there are many left." The lava had ravaged so much land, it was almost impossible to tell how many clans had perished because of it, nor where they would eventually be able to go as new lands would have to be found. Iss-ka began to move away from her side, pacing before her, but not crossing the distance with the couple.

"Are you a Shaman, Megaera?" The question might seem the weirdest to ask in this moment. She had no way of telling as she looked at the woman, nor would she know where to start to determine this fact. Yet, the clan mother's words from years ago kept swirling in the back of the mind. And it was common to say that shamans could look beyond what others could.

[Megaera]

The question took her by surprise. Anjali did not waste time on the niceties, and Megaera could only respect that. Now was not the time to mince words. It was a time for action and answers, which was hard when there was no place for trust in the deal.

Slowly, she nodded. "I was to become Lorekeeper to my people."

It was a position of importance within the clan structure. Shaman were the interpreters for the voices of the Spirits of Dathomir, and in the case of Megaera's people the will of The Mist.

"..and you, Anjali..?", she eyed the potentially dangerous creature that was still creeping about the ash covered ground...

[Anjali Raskor]

It was not a place or time to spend time playing small talk. While she understood the need to observe before acting, Anjali felt that asking the question was necessary. Megaera's answer was half expected, given the words that had kept ringing all over again in the brunette's mind. Yet, getting confirmation took things to a whole new level.

"She who looks beyond what you can see. You who listens beyond what she can hear. The lava blurs all lines." Anjali knew that her words would sound cryptic, but she knew she had found the person who would understand it. "These were the first words of my clan mother when I met her as a child."

Iss-Ka made a weird noise by her side and then returned next to her, giving an almost quizzical look at the blonde, before returning her attention to the male near her. Anjali's eyes were still on Megaera though. "I was born in a line of Shadow Killers (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Shadow_killer_%28Nightsister%29) and Sisters of the Voritor (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Sister_of_the_Voritor), but I was in training to become my clan's Beastwarden (http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Beastwarden)."

[Tristan Alastor]

Tristan stood along side Megaera, spear still in hand in spite of her wordless assurance that it would not be needed. In all his time on Dathomir, he had rarely left the boundaries of the clan grounds. He understood some of what the stranger said, but not all of it. He knew only what Megaera had taught him of the world and its people and that was just enough to be wary of Anjali.

[Megaera]

Megaera's expression could only have been described as astonished. She too had heard those words as a child, but not from her clan mother. She had heard them from one of the Honored Mothers (http://theholo.net/forum/showthread.php?22724-Road-to-the-Crucible&p=387567&viewfull=1#post387567), Nightsister's of advanced age and extreme power that she had been seeing ever since, only recently finding out that they were the spirits of those same witches.. The one called Avarice had said the words to her years ago and she had not thought of them again, until Anjali spoke them to her just now.

Loyalty was bred into those titles. The line of her mothers was clearly a strong one, full of Sisters who had fought and bled for their clan. A clan that Anjali no longer had, anymore than they had the Burning Mist.

She could sense Tristan's hesitation. They had no reason to trust this Nightsister, she could just as easily attack them and scavenge their bodies as become part of their group.

After tucking her dagger back into the sheath at her hip, as a gesture of trust, Megaera closed her eyes. This was what she had been put into training to do. Communicate with the spirits and interpret their wisdom, and right now there was only one spirit she wanted to see, if the ancient warrior-witch could be enticed to be helpful. Avarice. Her mind called out to the Honored Mother, calling for her aid, but as was typical it was not just the one that came forward but all three. She could see them, but the others might hear them, or at least detect the sounds of their whispering around Megaera.

"You again?" Avarice grouched. "So soon? Did we not just assist you with your trials?"

Magda pulled her long white braid over her shoulder, waving the end of it at Tristan who probably could not even see her completely inappropriate efforts to flirt with him. "Oh, Megaera... you were right child. He's definitely worth making a complete ass out of oneself."

"Err... thank you, Magda.", Megaera mumbled.

Helebor was the only one who seemed to be aware of their situation. "What has happened here, Daughter of Matier?"

Pain sliced through Meg, and suddenly it was Magda who, for once, was not cackling about. "Matier has left them, Hel...", she said.

Avarice seemed to begin to understand what she had been called for and came forward, resting her arm atop a sword that looked incredibly like the one Anjali carried. "The lava blurs all lines. I already told you this. Your clan is no more. Hers, ours is no more. You know the history of your people Megaera. You know how the clans were first divided, and how they were rebuilt. You have all the knowledge in you that you need. "

[Anjali Raskor]

Anjali could tell that the male by Megaera's side was warier than she was. The nightsister knew too well how all of this could end in a blood bath; but she couldn't shake the gut feeling that it wasn't how things were supposed to go. She felt that fate had put them in this place and moment for a reason. The moment the blonde put her weapon away, the brunette let go of the handle of her sword, hands now free in a returned token of silent trust.

Watching Megaera close her eyes, Anjali felt a rush in the air, all surrounding them. She wasn't gifted nor trained in seeing the spirits, but she felt the tingle and shivers on her skin to know that some were here. She eventually heard the faintest of whispers, murmurs gathering around the shaman before her. She canted her head to the side, trying to understand what was exactly happening, but it was beyond her talents.

Her attention drifted to Iss-Ka who suddenly - albeit quietly - trotted towards a spot near Megaera. Unknown to her was that the Voritor came to stop by the side of Avarice's spirit. She came to a halt, clicking her lizard's tongue at the spirit, or at least at whatever the creature felt.

[Wynn Ti]

She stumbles onward, the sky filled with smoke and the ashes of her Sisters and Mothers. The girl cannot tell if it is night or day. Everything is covered in grey-white ash, she is struggling through drifts of the stuff that come nearly to her hips.

Suddenly she is among them, greyish monoliths that tower above her slight frame. The rancors stand about, momentarily still, their slow breaths the only indication they live. The girl tries to recognize them, but they are so dirty she cannot tell if they are from her clan or another. Perhaps they are wild, grouping together in the chaos to find a safe place. Exhausted, she backs into a tree stump, and huddles there, cradling her sister.

Surrounded by the quiet beasts, she sleeps.

[Megaera]

The reptile crept forward and Megaera watched it warily. It was an animal that was important, maybe even sacred to Anjali's people and it was only coming forward toward Avarice who it seemed to be aware of. Megaera did not ask, but suspected that she too had once been Sister of the Voritor.

"Hello, Iss-Ka. It's been a bad night for you too, little sister.? Stay with these people. There is a touch of destiny about them.", she reached down to the lizard, but Avarice's ghostly hand passed through it.

"You know what to do, Megaera." Helebor nodded.

Magda, unbothered by the fact that Tristan could not see or feel her had crept forward and was hovering at his side, posing like she was the Queen of Dathomir. When her fellow spirits had said their goodbyes, she too began to dissolved and float away. "Good bye, Tristan...", she called, blowing him a kiss.

Megaera might have laughed, had her world not literally been burning.

When they had gone, Megaera came forward and offered her arm to Anjali. "Stay with us, Anjali. It is the will of the Spirits that you should travel with us."

[L'Buki Aphyon]

Ashes. Blood. Fire. Death… the land, it weeps of the darkest reds. Her people, many in number, whittled down to scavengers, wary of every shadow, every face. It was death’s playground, and he was death’s instrument, clanless now as all of the few survivors were. But whereas they had been subjected to the loss entirely by way of the all-consuming byproducts of the eruption, he had helped with his own hands, his own blade.

The eruption, in all cases, had done the nightbrother a favour, leaving him just enough to deal with himself. And so, he had walked the land painted with soot, mottled and stained with the dried blood of his former brothers, and the dirt in which they had torn each other asunder; he had sacrificed them to the flames, left them to be turned to ash. He had seen no one living body since. It had been days… but it had been years since he had last walked, unfettered. They had not been his first clan. They would not be his last.

Night had come again, as it always was wont to do. He could tell, despite the air being thick with the choking ash -breathing in his journey had required the binding of cloth across his nose and mouth and with that, he figured, he looked a marauder, a fiend, a maker of the path of war. He snorted, knowing full well that any he might encounter in the future could very well try to kill him on sight for it, as he came upon a gathering of rancors, tall and numerous as a stand of old trees, which gave him pause. It was silent here, still as a graveyard, the slow breathing of the rancors the only distinct sound. It was a conglomeration of those beasts, possibly from many clans, possibly wild. The huddling was strange, but the beasts were not bothered, and he walked amongst them, for he was something of a beast himself. They understood one another, he and them.

But he was not alone with the rancors. No.

Well, what have we here?

He edged closer, using the way of soundless movement that so aided him in his many years of life, to see the girl better, but not disturb her slumber. After a slow movement of many minutes, he came to crouch aside of her, and looked her over, curiously, bending over her to check if she was alive. The ash and smoke could kill anyone with enough exposure, but after a moment, it was found the girl did live. She slept soundly, but the same could not be said for the bundle in her arms, when he discovered it. There was only the sound of one soft breathing, which was unfortunate. He sat back on his haunches and looked over his shoulder at the gathered, silent beasts… they were her protectors. And he? He was the unbound. The one of blurred time. He was the bloody death.

And death sat in his crouch, with his ever-watchful eye, with his keen ear, and waited for the girl to regain consciousness, as long as it might take.

[Anjali Raskor]

Anjali couldn't see the spirits but she was curious about how Iss-Ka seemed to be particularly drawn to one. She based her assumption that there were more than one spirit because of the faint but diverse whispering sounds she heard around Megaera. The voritor seemed interested in that one spot, that one ghost from the realm beyond mortality. At some point, she heard the lizard emit a satisfied sound, the reptilian hissing equivalent to a feline purr. These sounds were rare, especially when not given to a long time owner. It made her wonder all the more what was unfolding that her eyes couldn't see.

At some point, Iss-Ka came back to her side, briefly resting her head against Anjali's calf. The brunette's eyes then returned to the blonde witch before her when she came towards her. She saw no threat from her and observed her as she spoke. Before she verbally answered, she took the offered arm with a bow of her head, indicating agreement.

"I will abide by their will." Iss-Ka hissed again, looking curious and tilted her head towards the man who was standing further away.

[Tristan Alastor]

Though he could not see the spirits that Megaera communed with, Tristan had felt their presence before, enough that he could sense the moment that they rose out of the ethereal plane and into his mate's field of vision. It was a sensation like no other he'd ever experienced: a prickling across his skin, an inexplicable yet certain awareness that he was being watched.

The hot breeze that stirred the ash piles at their feet seemed to murmured to Tristan. He stretched his senses, trying to hear the other side of Megaera's conversation, but the only other sound was the hiss of the lizard that had crept towards them. The creature peered at him as Megaera moved forward to welcome Anjali.

Tristan lifted his eyes to the lizard's keeper. In the life he had once led, a meeting like this would have come naturally to him. He would have welcomed the newcomer with an easy smile and a courtly bow – but he could not play the part of the Hapan Prince now. Instead, he stood and waited.

[Megaera]

The Spirits had confirmed for Megaera what she needed to know in this moment, that it was safe to trust Anjali. That her future and their own were somehow entwined together going forward. The Honored Mother's had never led her her wrong before, and she would continue to trust in their wisdom. Someone who knew the ways of a Beast Warden was invaluable to the task before them. First though, proper introductions for their new..sister it seemed.

Squeezing Anjali's forearm in a a reassuring, firm grip, she allowed a smile to show beneath the tumult of her emotions, like sunlight suddenly showing through the vale of ash above. "I am Megaera, daughter of Matier of the Burning Mist."

After releasing her grip upon her fellow Nightsister, Megaera went to Tristan, taking her place at his side. The pain in her green eyes abated slightly as she stood near to him, resting her hand on his back. "Anjali of The Lavender Drift, this is Tristan, Nightbrother of the Burning Mist. He is mine, as I am his."

"Our lands are gone, but we have been tracking our rancor. They got ahead of us in the initial panic, and we believe they are close, but with the ash covering much of their passing it has not been easy. Perhaps someone who knows the ways of a Beast Warden could find signs that we could not?"

[Anjali Raskor]

Anjali wouldn't have thought that she would find a new sister and brother in her mad rush for survival. Here she was, per the will of ancient spirits. She was no shaman but she knew how to accept the signs and the ones who had this gift. She didn't feel as a lesser being because she didn't have this talent. She had learned that every sister had their own uncanny specificity. She was proud of coming from a bloodline with many sisters of the Voritor and was glad that she had her own gift to support her clan with, even now that this clan wasn't the same she had been born into.

When proper and complete introductions were offered, she bowed her head to Megaera. "I am Anjali, daughter of Dangereuse from the Lavender Rift." She nodded when the blonde introduced the nightbrother as her own and she as his. She nodded again.

"I heard rancors further away from here when I was following Iss-Ka. How many of them are there?" She hadn't actually seen the beasts, but she could certainly assist. "I will reunite you with them." Tracking was certainly something she had skills for. She had still been in training, but it didn't mean she wasn't already with extended abilities.

[Tristan Alastor]

“Well met, Anjali,” Tristan said, though his words lacked warmth. He had uttered those words before, welcoming nobles to court and treating with captains of industry. This was just a new kind of diplomacy, he thought. One where they weren't bartering over how much to pay for a shipment of exotic creatures to hunt, but instead preparing to claw their way through dirt and ashes – putting their own lives at risk – to find a group of the foulest tempered and foulest smelling beasts Tristan had ever met.

He had no idea what they would do without them.

“We have four rancor,” Tristan went on, glancing to Megaera for confirmation. She nodded softly.

“Though we suspect they've joined up with other herds that fled after...” He struggled to find the right words, because there were none.

[Megaera]

After..

It was enough. Everyone knew what event Tristan omitted. No one wanted to think about it. Better to fill their minds with purpose, like finding their rancor. Replacing the dagger to her hip, Megaera roused the other forms sleeping in the murky half-light. She told them that they were going after the rancor and to hold the position if they could, that they would return. No one argued with her, whether because she had been the daughter of Matier, or because they were too weary to care remained to be seen. She was not even sure if they were all from their land. She suspected they were not. A handful of battered and burned, tired and hungry souls. That was all that remained.

"The tracks we've followed have been rather obvious. As if there are more than just our own few now, but with the ash.. I don't know.", she admitted.

[Anjali Raskor]

Anjali had no problems with Tristan's cool tone. It wasn't because they were going to travel together that they had to be best friends. The one and only person she had ever called as such had died in the cataclysm, since Arana had been watching over her younger sisters back then.

"In the short time that has passed, it is unlikely they were already accepted as part of a new pack." Rancors weren't always the most cooperative creatures when living with a witch's clan and having to befriend or at least tolerate others that lived with the Dathomiri. In wilderness, it could be even more complicated.

She focused on the new task at hand, as it also prevented her from ruminating about the tragedy. Once Megaera and possibly Tristan were to go with her to seek out the traces they had followed in the first place, the witch was already casting her senses out, Iss-Ka by her side.

She felt drawn to the direction of the visible tracks, until they all vanished after thirty minutes, because of all the ashes and devastation. She trusted her senses and then headed into an unlikely direction, but she knew what she was doing. From afar she eventually saw a larger group of Rancors, some of them currently fighting to the death.

"Rancors and grey Rancors. The latter must have traveled a lot already. They normally aren't found except in the Western mountains." She observed, perched on a rock, her eyes staring at the wild group of beasts. "I see three isolated." She said, pointing out. "Are these some of yours?" They had said four, but it would make sense some of them stuck together if they had lived with the clan long enough to have become their own pack.

[Chrysothemis]

"They are indeed ours..."

A voice slithered out of the shadows, its normally dusky tones laid to ruin with the ash and smoke that permeated everything around them. It was soon followed by a familiar form, though ravaged by the recent ruin laid upon them. bearing wounds of more than simply natural causes. Ash rained down about her as she shook her head, waist-length tresses loose and fluttering around her as she moved.

Blood trailed slowly from a half-healed wound in her side, which hampered her movement to a slight degree. Graceful, predatory steps were now carefully placed, and her movements much more deliberate and purposeful. There was no wasted motion when all it caused was pain and weakness. Under most circumstances, Chrysothemis would have drawn a deep, shuddering sense of pleasure and power from such pain as her body harbored.

And part of her did, reveling in the baser instincts she so readily called upon and prized beyond even some of her abilities. But most of her was simply numb to it, having endured too much in so short a time.

Blinking, she stepped forward once more, giving the unrecognized woman and the voritor at her side a wide berth as she approached Megaera and Tristan. "Sel'tur is injured, and yet she would not hear of me approaching to help her. There are amidst unknown animals..." a small indignant squeak was heard from the satchel that was slung across her body, interrupting her words. A gentle hand reached in without looking, only to emerge a moment later with a very dirty purbole clinging to her cupped fingers.

Saya looked ruffled and most annoyed with her surroundings, a very imperious nature bundled up in a tiny, adorable form. Tiny eyes were wide in her face as she looked at everyone in turn, eying the newcomers quite warily. She sneezed and gave a tiny chirruping sound once more, and Chrysa returned her to the satchel so she could curl up in her relatively ash-free nest.

"...forgive me. She is not well, and I fear that I may soon lose her as I lost her mate."

While her voice was as ever, devoid of emotion, the truth was writ in the tightness of her shoulders and the tension of her soot and blood-stained features. There was little she could do to help the creatures that she had bonded to, and it pained her to her core.

[Wynn Ti]

She felt the eyes upon her before she woke, and when she opened her own she looked directly at the man crouching near her. Her eyes were large in her dirty face, but she showed no fear, merely clutched her sister a little tighter. After a moment of silent staring, she looked up at the rancors, craning her neck at the enormous beasts that towered over her.

They were beginning to stir and awaken from whatever sleep or trance they had been in in the night.

[Megaera]

Creeping forward with careful, deliberate steps, lest they frighten away the herd anew, Megaera crouched beside Anjali as she indicated the four rancor secluded from the rest of the pack. Her bare fingertips gripped the rough surface of the stone tightly enough to bleed the tips of her fingers as she spotted Erishkigal, Ishara and Sel'tur. Many of the towering beasts seemed stunned, or incapacitated by some condition that Megaera could not identify. They too had been through much, but this behavior was not normal for them, to just stand still as a forest of flesh, swaying as though they might fall over, as surely as a wood of imminently felled trees. She'd been about to answer the other Nightsister when a familiar scratchy voice answered for her.

Megaera's pale blond hair, dirtied with streaks of ash, whipped around her head as she turned to the sound, a squeak of strong emotion escaping her lips at the sight of her Sister. Chrysa might not be of her blood, but she was the sister Megaera had chosen for herself, and valued every bit as much as she had Asherah. She'd thought that Chrysa too had been lost, so to see her now, wounded but alive, was like receiving a blessing from their Fanged God. Scrambling down from the rock they'd perched on, Meg went to her Sister's side, frowning first at the oozing wound in her side. Then at the revelations about their mounts, and her beloved purboles. That she had lost one of the pair of simians was surely heartbreaking enough, but faced with losing them both, she could feel sorrow bleeding from Chrysothemis. But they were hard, and strong. They would survive this nightmare together, Megaera had to believe that.

"Chrysa, ussta dalninil! Bel'la dos... Bel'la dos.... Bel'la dos...", she was helpless to do anything more than repeat her weary thanks to the Fanged God for giving her her sister back. She felt as though only now they could move forward, but first they had to collect their beasts.

They were not the only few in the forest of rancor though, nearby there were others. Megaera could sense them, if not see them, and she could smell death.

[Anjali Raskor]

Anjali's eyes drifted to the newcomer, a woman the people she now traveled with recognized as one of their sisters. She looked at the poor little creature. Not approaching her as she was respectful of boundaries, she nevertheless looked at Chrysa. "Maybe some Kripur ashes and a concoction of shiloo might help your companion." She observed though it was little for she had only recognized the species and the poor generic state.

Returning her attention to the Rancors, she pursed her lips. Without a word, she then slowly but decisively moved towards where the Rancors were. She wasn't afraid of them, and she respected their strengths. She had moved so her Voritor remained with the other Dathomiri. One of the grey Rancors sniffed at her and she waited quietly as the smaller male - a young one - proceeded. He smelled death but no fear on her.

She eventually reached the three Rancords Megeara and Chrysa had confirmed as their own. One of them was badly injured but the two others were fine. One tried to attack her as she came closer but she drew no weapon for the time being, though she growled and hissed back, her body language being more primal than anything else as she assessed the beast as they were doing this with her too.

[Wynn Ti]

The man got up abruptly, his gaze predatory, and he disappeared among the tree trunks that were the rancors' legs. The girl lost him to sight, but there was a new disturbance. A rancor was making noise, and the others were stirring out of whatever daze had kept them still through the night.

She clutched her sister tight, hugging her heavy body against her chest, and curled up smaller against the stump. Thankfully the toddler still slept, and the girl looked down at her peaceful face and licked her own thumb, cleaning off a bit of the ash from her cheek.

[Megaera]

Ishara was on the attack. Her big clawed arm took a swipe at Anjali, who did not seem to take the attack personal. Neither did she back down, which would have been the worst thing she could have done. Instead, she held her ground, giving the rancor back it's own attitude. Even in the midst of their misery Megaera smiled, just a little, at that. Even though their beasts were coming around, they still seemed sluggish and slow to react. If they were going to press their advantage, now was the time.

Exchanging a glance with her prince, Meg nodded and they both moved as one, vaulting over the rock where they had been half-concealed, with the remaining voritor lizard. No one knew their mounts as they did, and if they were to be taken back, they would need all of them to do it. Knowing her mate as she did, it did not surprise her to see him walk up to his rancor without fear. Neither did it surprise her when she felt a sudden pull on the forces of magic, preceding his fist colliding with the side of the beasts head. The beast was named for his mother, and he must had derived a sense of satisfaction from the strike. Either way, in the time it took the animal to recover from the attack, Tristan was already astride the beast and bringing her under his control.

Erishkigal was another story. Her eyes glowed red in a way Megaera had only seen once before. In a beast that had gone mad. Ultimately they had put the creature down. Unwilling to lose another loved one, Meg approached her long time friend with caution, pleading for recognition to come across the hideous face.

"Ol zhah uns'aa, Erishkigal.", she spoke, her voice carrying across the space between them as she approached.

"Harl.. ol zhah tenu nin. Harl."

Erishkigal backed up, and roared so loud Megaera felt she would never get the stench of the rancor's breath out of her hair from the force of it. Instinct demanded she cover her ears against the sound, but she did not. She listened to the pain of the creature making the noise, as she would listen to a friend, or any other loved one, telling her of their pain. There was hopelessness in the roar. Defeat. Fear. Guilt.

Megeara's blonde head tilted at an angle trying to understand what her rancor could possibly feel guilty about, and then she understood, looking to Sel'tur. The injury to Chrysa's own rancor had not been inflicted by one of the unknown grey rancor, but by Erishkigal. Most likely it had been in the confusion of the flight from the lava.. Just as the Nightsisters had fought and scrambled for their lives, so too had these poor beasts. In the confusion, and with the scent of so many other rancor around, and with ash muddling their vision, of course it had been an accident.

Understanding the cause of her mounts pain, Meg started forward, crooning to the beast that it was alright. "Naut dosst que'darn."

"Udos orn o'goth Sel'tur." She assurred the hurting beast that they would heal it's friend. That all would be well.

She came very close and was snatched up in a claw so tight, Megeara feared that Tristan was about to watch her be ripped apart by her own rancor. In the end, the beast crushe dher against it's chest and made a sound of pain so deep and heartfelt that even Meg's eyes watered. She did not fear. She just let the beast grieve a while before it put her down and returned to it's normal, rotten disposoition.

The chaos of the rancors had allowed one of the life forced they had sensed to slip away unseen, but one remained nearby. When the rancor set her down, Megaera looked toward Anjali. "There is someone here. Someone young, and weakened.."

[Anjali Raskor]

Anjali didn't know fear before a Rancor or any beast. She had felt fear and despair wrench her gut and tear her soul apart with the tragedy that had caused the death of her clan, of her family. Yet, being before beasts was almost like going home, to some distorted and painful degree. When the couple came to help retrieving their beasts, she assisted as she could, continuing to take care of the third one, while both Megaera and Tristan took care of their own.

The pain that poured from the beasts, while none being her own mount, made her heart ache and her eyes misty. Nature felt the catastrophe and all the consequences it had had. Everything was bound together and she knew that it made such events even more difficult for everyone to bear. Yet, they would need to press on and continue to go away, to try to find a new place as their own had been torn asunder in a definitive manner.

Empathizing with the Rancors, and feeling her Voritor nearby, she suddenly was brought back to the present when Megaera mentioned that someone young was nearby. She gave a brief look at the blonde. "I'll find them." She simply said, before moving further. In a quiet hiss, she made her new companion come to her side at once.

She drew on her perceptions and felt where the young could be. It took her a few minutes, but she soon saw the girl. She saw that she had an even smaller child with her, strapped against herself. Ish-Ka clicked her tongue, in curiosity. "Little one..." Anjali said to the girl, raising both hands in a peaceful gesture. "I'm not here to hurt you. We are not here to hurt you." She said, including the Voritor in her introduction.

[Wynn Ti]

She stared the woman, shifting and drawing up her feet underneath her so she could run away if need be. She had no magic of her own, not yet, and this was the second stranger to approach her. Perhaps the man had been a ghost. The girl spared a glance for the voritor, a small version of the giant poisonous lizards that were known to her. Had it been any bigger it would probably have spooked the rancors, which were beginning to rumble far above her.

The woman reached forward a bit, and the girl shook her head emphatically, clutching her precious burden closer, imagining the stranger wished to take her sister from her. She stood, legs cramped and stiff, and hobbled backward, edging around the stump she had slept against.