Hunters (parius)

After arriving at Zendar late in the evening, and bone weary from a week of straight travel, Vala had requested her usual room in the eldrich moon, locked the door and slept like a log for almost seventeen hours straight. There was an advantage of not needing to sleep for long periods at a time, but it also meant when she finally did need to sleep, there was no waking her. She always felt a little bit exposed without Fayla around to watch over her, and even though the eldrich moon was safe, anyone could pay her a visit while she slept. Vala rose, feeling more dreary then refreshed from sleep, and decided to have a bath. Finally clean, she set out to hunt for some food. She was famished after her long nap.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs, dressed, drakna in place and shortbow strung in hand, she spotted Bartly who greeted her with his usual cheer. "Good day miss Vala, you've been a sleep for quite some time." He said to her. "I was exausted. I'm heading out to hunt." She said. "Ah, I believe the chef was hoping you'd go hunting. He seen a few Deer out in the forest, I think he'd appreciate it if you brought one back with you." Bartly said. "I shall do my best." She said with a smile before turning towards the door.

"Oh before you go, I forgot to mention. Some of the local hunters apparently spotted a heanta out in the woods. Seems odd for one to be so far away from home. Well, besides yourself. Just be careful." He said. "Thanks Bartley, I'll keep an eye out." She said, and walked out. Heading through the small village towards the forest she considered the implications of another heanta hanging around. Maybe they were just passing through, or maybe they'd sent them here looking for her. She frowned. And then she found some fresh deer tracks, and put the heanta to the back of her mind. If she met them, she'd worry about it then.

She followed the tracks about half a mile into the forest, where she finally came upon a single doe hidden in the trees ahead. She carefully moved into position, slipping free three arrows from her quiver. She knocked on on the string and carefully drew the bow back. With a silent breath, she let loose the arrow, hitting the doe in the chest. A second arrow hit the doe at the exact same time, even as she had half drawn her bow again. Vala snapped the bow back and pointed it towards the general direction of where the shot came from, the doe forgotten. "Show yourself, carefully. Or i'll put an arrow in you." She said.

Tristan surveyed the area around him. He had only been in this area for a little while, but he knew that the locals already knew of his presence. He sighed, his golden eyes still scanning for food. He was wearing his usual outfit, plus his black travelling cloak, with the hood up. He carried Fafnir in his hands, and he was in a tree, as it allowed him a better view. Plus, what deer would expect a bunter in a tree? He soon saw a doe, hidden in the trees below. He notched Fafnir back, and a magical arrow appeared on the string. He took careful aim, and shot it. However, at the same time his arrow hit, a not magical arrow hit the deer as well. Senses immediately sharpened, Tristan held still. He heard a woman's voice call out. 

Sighing, he put Fafnir onto his back, and leaped over to the deer, probably right in front of whoever was calling him. He bent down, and retrieved the arrow from the corpse of the deer. "I hope your worth the trouble I'm about to go through." He said to it. Looking towards where the voice came from, he said loudly, "It's not good sport to hunt the same animal, don't you think? I'm not an enemy, so you don't have to waste another arrow, Miss. Here, come out. I'll even give you your arrow back." He said everything with no emotion, showing no signs of being hostile.

Vala heard the other hunter drop from a tree near the deer, and spotted him as he spoke under his breath. Then he addressed her. She scoffed in reply. "Really? And its good sport to hunt the creature from up a tree?" She asked as she carefully edged around the foliage until she got a clear look at him. Moving forward, bow still drawn and ready, she examined the Hunter. Unsurprisingly, he was a heanta, his horns hidden in his long red hair. What she found peculiar though was his golden eyes. "A heanta skulking around the woods near a small village, why should I believe your not an enemy?" She asked him carefully.

She moved carefully, as he offered the arrow back to her. "Drop it on the ground." She said to him. She spotted the bow across his back, but no quiver, and a sword hanging from his hip. "Do not make any sudden moves. You might regenerate but at this range my arrow will hit your eye before you can draw your sword." She ordered, the sharp edged voice of a heanta elite commanding a lesser. Though he may still think her a human. "And then tell me why your out here? Are there more of you? I know nothing good ever comes of heanta hanging around a small village like Zendar." Though how they had come to be so far out, she wasn't sure.

Tristan cocked his head at her question. "It's got a better view. It makes sense. Try it, before you make such a decision." As she came into view, Tristan took a quick measure of the woman. She was young looking, and seemed to only be carrying a bow. He did sigh, when she said he was skulking around. However, he couldn't disagree with her logic. "That's a good viewpoint. Heanta aren't known to be nice, after all. Especially to smaller villages." He listened, as as she told him to drop her arrow on the ground. He shrugged, and did so, throwing it nearer to her. She then tried to order him around. Her voice did gain more authority. But, it didn't really faze Tristan. It also gave away something to Tristan. "Your a Heanta." He simply said. "Only our kind talks with that kind of edge in their voice." 

He looked closer at her, as she started barraging him with questions. Her eyes seem....familiar. He thought. Then, with a start, he realized. Calaena? No. Red hair. Calaena's eyes.....Valatrix? He thought. Nothing changed on the outside, but Tristan's mind was now swirling around. A harder edge hit his voice, as he asked her, "What Clan are you from?!" If she answered the way he thought she would, it would only confirm what he was thinking. This wasn't a normal Heanta. It was his daughter.

He caught on as soon as she started to question him, and she snarled a bit. "So I am. But just so you know, this village is under my protection. If you or your friends mess with it, you will have to answer to me." She told him. He seemed to examine her more carefully before finally asking her what clan she was from, rather suddenly and slightly agressively. Vala tilted her head and smiled a vicious smile. "Isn't it obvious? I am Valatrix of the Hornless Clan. Speak your name Warrior, and your reason for being here." She said, laying on a level of coldness to her voice akin to her mothers.

Vala had a feeling this was about to turn into a fight. He seemed to be trying to confirm something. Perhaps he was sent to kill her, and couldn't believe his luck in finding her out here. However he would not have an easy time of it. "I won't ask you again, why are you here? To raid Zendar? Or maybe your here to kill me, since you seem so insistant to know who I am? Just so you know, I've taken down heanta twice your size, so I hope you brough back up. Your going to need it." She said, the bow still trained on him, her aim unflinching.

Tristan breathed a sigh. Maybe of relief, or exasperation, he wasn't even sure yet. "Valatrix of Clan hornless." He said, before looking the girl. He also had to think fast. It seemed this going towards a violent confrontation, and Tristan wasn't too keen on fighting his daughter. "Neither. I'm simply passing through. I don't have reason to fight.........an ally, I suppose would be the best term, for right now." He went back into his more emotionless look.

If she asked how he was an ally to her, Tristan would simply take the piece of cloth from his waist, and open it. "Does this comfirm it?" The cloth had the symbol for Clan hornless on it. "I......knew your mother. Calaena. I fought with her against Onyxus. That was when she brought me into Clan Hornless. I may be out here, but I wouldn't strike out at a noble, least of all one from my own clan." He was slightly lying, of course. Tristan had no real attachment to Clan Hornless. Everything back then had simply happened. But still. Tristan could barely believe it. After 40 years, and after leaving his daughter was here. In front of him. He still wasn't sure what to do, so he figured he wouldn't tell her who he was.Not right away, at least.

The male repeated her name, before insisting that he was in fact, only passing through. Vala watched him warily, her grip on the bow not so much as shifting. Not that she would need it. He tried to claim he was an ally, but seemed to be hung up on the term to use. Which she noted as strange. "what do you mean my ally?" She asked, and watched him with dead serious eyes as he explained to her how he was part of her clan. He even had a piece of cloth with the hornless clan symbol on it, which he showed her as he asked if it was proof enough. Vala tilted her head, and looked between him and the cloth.

She lowered the bow slightly, watching him. "What's your name?" Vala asked him. He seemed perfectly calm, compared to the average heanta who would probably be raging over the accusations she threw his way. However, when he claimed to know her mother, and mentioned she'd faught Onyxus with her, she lowered the bow farther. "My mother never mentioned you." She said to him. "Surely she would have told me a heanta from clan hornless lived out here, to avoid such this sort of confrontation should we meet." She said to him.

She wasn't quite sure if she should believe him, however he seemed to have recognized her, and it was true that she shared quite a few similarities with her mother. Besides the red hair she got from her father, they shared a similar face, though Celaena's was hard sharp edges to vala's softer appearance. They're eyes were the same, right down to the shape, though her mother's left was scarred and missing replaced with her demon matrix, a wound she got from her battle with Onyxus. So maybe he wasn't lying, but if he was telling the truth he would know the answer to her next question. "If you knew my mother, then you'll know how she lost her eye, and why she waiting until after she'd lost it to forge her demon matrix." Vala said to him.

Tristan kept calm, as she lowered her bow. "My name is Tristan Bahamat. They used to call me the Red Ranger, though I doubt anyone says my name anymore. It has been almost 40 years since i last set foot in Kyrias, after all." He did get slightly annoyed, when she mentioned Calaena hadn't mentioned him for the fight against Onyxus. "Well. That's disapointing. She could've at least given me that much credit, seeing as my arrows are what allowed her to rip out that beast's eye. Oh well. And I don't live here. I live in East Undine. As I said, I was simply passing through." 

He sighed again, as she asked him more questions. "I know your mother lost her eye in the fight with Onyxus. As I said, I was there. As for her demon matrix. Well, it was because she was trying to be like your grandfather, Ren. A strange way of looking at the world, but, it worked for her, up until that point." Tristan then decided to ask questions of his own. "What about you? Why are you out here? I'm surprised you;re not with Calaena right now." He walked back over to the doe, and pointed at it. "I'll give you this kill. I can find another, it won't be too difficult."

He told her his name, mentioning he'd left almost forty years ago. Vala nodded. "You left about the time i was born. That explains why I've never seen you around." She said to him frowning. He seemed somewhat annoyed that her mother never mentioned him. However he answered her questions flawlessly and was quick to point out how he'd been present when Celaena had lost her eye. Vala nodded. "Thats right, but if you were lying about fighting Onyxus, you wouldn't have known thats how she lost her eye." Vala pointed out. She nodded to the second question. "I think I understand it. When your parent is so powerful they don't need a demon matrix, it makes you want to live up to that power. Still you've seen her in action. I'd say grandfather would be proud of her with all she's achieved, even if she might not be as strong as he was." Vala said. "But then again, very few were."

Then it was his turn to ask questions, and Vala shrugged as she answered. "I'm on a secret mission for her." She told him. "And by that I mean I've been banned from Kyrias for a while. Someone's taken a dislike to me and until she finds out who and, well, gets rid of them I'm not allowed home." She explained. "Which is why I thought you might be an assassin." After that he offered her the kill and she smiled. "My arrow did hit first anyway. Granted i could find another if I wanted. I spent eight years as a scout." And she'd spent almost five years roaming the freelands with Fayla now.

She nodded towards it. "How about we just share it. I only need a bit for myself. I doubt the Chef will mind if he only gets half a deer. Its better than nothing for free." She said. "Why don't you come with me. You can tell me embarrassing stories about my mother, if such things exist." Vala said, genuinely freindly now. The coldness of their initial meeting had given way to her usual freindliness rarely seen by other heanta.

Tristan nodded his head. "Around the time, yes. I remember when you were born, actually....." He stopped talking, as the words became hard to say. He showed no outwards emotion, but Vala might notice the sudden stop in his conversation. He shrugged at Vala's next statements. "It was never really something she discussed with me. I also never had any reason to ask. I think we were both wrapped up in our thoughts. Plus, you know your mother. She isn't one to confide in others. Especially some nobody in the Warrior Caste."

"Someone is after you?" He scratched his head. "I can think of a few people that would have a problem with your mother, and by extension, you." Our Warlord, for one. He thought to himself. Tristan nodded. "A good guess. If I had the same information, I probably would have come to the same conclusion." He did smile a bit. "I spent a lot longer in the scouts. And I was further away."  

He shrugged. "We can share. I only need enough to continue on my way." When she offered him to come with her, Tristan thought about it, before a question rose that he needed to ask. "Before we do go back to this village, I want to ask you one more thing." He remained in his unfeeling mask, but, if Vala noticed, his eyes got a bit sadder. "Did Calaena ever tell you who your father was?"

Vala listened to him mention how he remembered when she was born. He seemed to pause, before quickly continuing on. He didn't seem to know much more her mothers reasons, and claimed the barely talked about anything like it. Though she found it a bit strange that he bothered to even note Vala's birth. "Yeah, I can think of a few poeple too. I actually met one, but she wasn't exactly forthcoming with information before she decided to flee." Vala mentioned.

They agreed to share the deer, and Tristan also agreed to return to the inn where they could talk. However before they did, he stopped her again and asked her a question that stopped her in her tracks. She frowned and looked at him. Such a strange question caught her off guard and she stared at him for a few seconds before managing to answer. "My father? We never really talked about him. I asked allot when I was younger but Mother always dodged the subject. She didn't seem happy to talk about it, and I eventually stopped asking." She said.

"I asked my grandmother once, while she was still alive, but she didn't know. She just told me i must have his hair color because I was the first in the family with red hair and...." Vala froze mid sentence. She stared at Tristan with an odd look on her face for several seconds, examined the red hair, the soft features of his face, and thought back to the odd questions and actions.

Vala let out a sort of strained laugh, her mind trying to process what she was thinking. That somehow, all the way out in the freelands she'd crossed paths with her father, a male she had no knowledge of other than his possible red hair, and looking at him she could possibly see some similar features between them. However she may also be imagining all this, her mind trying to fulfill her suppressed desire to meet her father by making her believe this male was him, all brought on by his unexpected question.

Suddenly unsure of what to say, and realising that she'd been silent for nearly a minute now, Vala began to wish Fayla was here to break the building silence, to say something Fayla-ish, like, "Ha, it would be really funny if you were my father." Vala seemed to realise she had infact said that, and she was not laughing, just standing stock still on the spot, her face flushed pink from embarrasment.

Tristan cocked his head, when she said that Calaena had never said anything about him. "I see." He said. As Vala continued, she suddenly stopped, and stared at him. Ah. She's actually looking. He thought, as he crossed his arms. She then let out what Tristan could only describe as a strained laugh. He let her think, as time slipped by. But, to Tristan, time didn't really matter to him. Tristan blinked, when she suddenly talked, and seemed embarrassed about what she had said. 

Tristan himself wasn't sure how to proceed with this. On one hand, he had met his daughter, seen she had grown up to be capable in her own right. He didn't need to tell her the truth. But, something prevented that. He got irritated at himself, letting out an exasperated sigh. Seems my conscious won't allow me to be a stereotypical Heanta now. No turning back after this. He scratched his chin, before letting out a forced chuckle. "Then, I guess you're a comedian then. Because that is exactly who I am. You are Valatrix, Daughter to Calaena the Hornless, and Tristan Bahamat." He seemed irritated at the next part. "The rare kind of Heanta born with the ability to look inwards on themselves, and see that they can no longer be apart of a place that is the exact opposite of what they want out of life."

Vala paled further than it seemed possible for someone who's skin was near snowwhite. She tried to comprehend what he'd just said to her, though she was having trouble believing it. When the information slowly seeped into her, she began to wonder how should she react. She was torn between hugging Tristan, and decking him in the nose. instead of either, she slapped him with the palm of her hand before staggering back, bumped up against a tree and ended up using it as a support. "I don't.. Why..." She said. "Why the hell did you leave us!" She burst out with suddenly.

"I spent years wondering where you were, and no one would tell me! And then suddenly I find you hunting deer in a forest, half a continent away from Kyrias. And this is how you tell me your my father?! How long have you been standing there waiting for me to figure it out!" She shouted. She felt cornered all of a sudden and was half tempted to run from this encounter, suddenly to overwhelmed. But instead she asked him, "Why didn't you come back?!"

Tristan again reverted to watching her, as she paled. He knew what was coming, and steeled himself, as he felt her hand connect to his face. He rubbed it, as she very rightly asked him questions. He waited for her to be done, before forcing himself to look her, dead in the eyes. "Why did I leave? Alot of reasons. I am not like most Heanta. I was born with a capacity for those weakest of emotions. Kindness, trust, and a general need to care about those around you." His eyes betrayed his anger now. "And it was those feelings that made me realize. I was not meant for Kyrias. For our people. I can no longer stand that place. I won't return. Not even for you." 

His hands turned into fists, and he could feel his claws slightly cut into his palms. "As for you. I was told right from the onset that I was not going to be allowed to be a father to you. Your mother made that clear. She used me to make an heir to the Hornless Clan, as is the way of our people. Even if I had stayed, I doubt she would've told you about me. I would've been another warrior for the Clan. And so, I used it as my chance to leave. To try and lead a life that I would be happy with." He stopped, before saying, more softly, "You have it as well, don't you? You have the same gift that I have. To feel kindness, to feel bad for your actions?"

Vala scoffed. "Oh please, as if don't know how hard life is in Kyrias. As if I don't bear the scars. You think you had it bad, try having a target on your back!" She retorted. "I still wouldn't abandon my child, if I had one." She said. He tried to push the blame onto her mother but Vala was having none of it. "Do not even try. She'd have let you see me if you really wanted to. She's not as horrible as you think. Besides, I have words for her too, next time I see her."

He went on about how he would have been just another warrior for the clan, but she cut him off. "Sure, maybe, but you would have been there for me." She pulled up her shirt a little past her ribs, revealing the scar where a knife had ripped into her side. "You might have been there to help me the night this happened. The night I almost died, only for the kindness of an eldross slave who had a chance at freedom but stopped to heal me." She let her shirt drop and continued.

"Do you want to know the kicker? he was my best freinds father. He died to save me, butchered as he fled Kyrias. He would have been long gone, if he didn't need to stop for me. He would have made it home to Fayla, if you'd stuck around." She knew she was being irrational, blaming Tristan for something like this. "Yes, I have it too. You talk about our kindness as if its a weakness, but you just use it as an excuse to be selfish!" She snapped. "What have you been doing with your gift? Hiding in the woods all these years? Atleast tell me you used your strength as a heanta for something worthwhile out here."

"Damn right its worthwhile to me!" She snapped back. He looked her in the eye and told her he wouldn't explain himself. She fell quiet as he spoke, and then told her he wouldn't be judged by her for his choices, but he also wouldn't force her to bear the sight of him. For a moment, she desperately wanted to tell him to stop, to say sorry and try to start over. Instead she snarled. "Fine! Run away from your problems! Its certainly something your good at, you coward."

It was out of her mouth faster than she could stop herself. She knew she shouldn't have said it, but it was to late. So she let out a scream of anger, and punched the tree beside her, smashing a sizable chunk out of it, chips of wood and bark scattered across the small clearing. Then she turned and stomped away, angry, hurt, and shameful.