Archer of the Northern Crags

pullofthebowstring‌:

“Let’s not forget it.” Jaliqia caught hold of Aika’s elbow, expression stern, though it was open.

“Family listens to one another’s concerns and tries to work with them. I cannot do that for you, my family, unless you speak your mind. A marriage is always built upon communication. It is best we learn to communicate now, Aika, instead of struggling later.”

She let out a short sigh. “Besides. There is always a reason to talk about what’s bothering us.”

Aika rarely found such a reason, aside from not prolonging whatever conflict avoiding conflict had ironically caused. Her jaw tensed. She didn’t want to discuss it, but she would need to if she wanted Jaliqai to leave her alone about it.

“I am afraid,” She managed, “Not of the crags necessarily, of leaving everything my-” Not home, she couldn’t say home; not to Jaliqai. “-of never seeing the cove again.”

“I know-” What did she know? She had never left home, as in truly left it. “I know that once I leave I can’t return, I can’t visit, I can’t…”

All of those things were true, and Jaliqai’s expression softened at Aika’s revelations. Of course she was going to miss her home, and the people she had known there.

Of course she could not return. Jaliqai knew this. She had been remiss in not addressing it sooner.

“Aika...I know that it will be difficult to leave everything behind but -- in the end, it will be for the better. Your sister is not a kind woman, and eventually her wrath would have even fallen upon you. She would have tried to do something like burning you to death in a barn, rather than have her will defied.”

She reached out, making to tuck a lock of hair behind Aika’s ear.

pullofthebowstring:

Jaliqai watched Aika’s retreat, heart twisting in her chest, looking vaguely wounded before she carefully wiped the feeling from her face. It wasn’t easy? It should be the easiest thing in the world. They were in love.

They were to be together – they’d done everything they could to be together. They’d…They’d defied all odds and now Aika was getting cold feet?

If it had been Jaliqai. If she had been the one to leave her people and come to be with Aika? She would have been excited. She would have been jubilant. Why wasn’t Aika jubilant?

“Aika, you get to be free,” Jaliqai tried, “you get to be with me, to make your own life the way you want it to be. I know…that it can be scary to leave the comfort of your home, but that is the wonderful thing about my family’s way of life – our family’s way of life. No matter where we go we bring home with us.”

She tried on a warm smile, reaching her hands out toward Aika once again. 

“No one will try to hurt you in the Crags. You will be a beloved family member. No conditions attached.”

No matter where one goes home follows. A thing Aika would likely come to learn in less pleasant ways, should she make it to the crags.

“I don’t want to talk about this.” Aika resisted the urge to pull away. “There is no reason to, it will just be upsetting.” To her, to Jaliqai.

It would be better for her to battle with this in silence, alone. If she kept it to herself there would be no argument over it; no upset, no conflict, no anger.

“Let’s go back to camp. Let’s forget it.”

“Let’s not forget it.” Jaliqia caught hold of Aika’s elbow, expression stern, though it was open.

“Family listens to one another’s concerns and tries to work with them. I cannot do that for you, my family, unless you speak your mind. A marriage is always built upon communication. It is best we learn to communicate now, Aika, instead of struggling later.”

pullofthebowstring:

Pulling from their kiss with a smile, reluctant, she gazed levelly into Aika’s dark eyes, searching.

“Well? Aren’t you?” She knew well enough that it was a distraction. Aika had been avoiding this for weeks now, and had become increasingly unoriginal in her tactics as Jaliqai chipped away at her façade. 

The smile she attempted to force was weak and didn’t hold. “Yes… of course.” It was unconvincing even to her ears; eyes averted, she took a step back. “But it isn’t- it isn’t as simple as…” As she wished it was.

She took another step back, hand slipping from Jaliqai’s. “This isn’t easy.” To put it lightly.

Jaliqai watched Aika’s retreat, heart twisting in her chest, looking vaguely wounded before she carefully wiped the feeling from her face. It wasn’t easy? It should be the easiest thing in the world. They were in love.

They were to be together -- they’d done everything they could to be together. They’d...They’d defied all odds and now Aika was getting cold feet?

If it had been Jaliqai. If she had been the one to leave her people and come to be with Aika? She would have been excited. She would have been jubilant. Why wasn’t Aika jubilant?

“Aika, you get to be free,” Jaliqai tried, “you get to be with me, to make your own life the way you want it to be. I know...that it can be scary to leave the comfort of your home, but that is the wonderful thing about my family’s way of life -- our family’s way of life. No matter where we go we bring home with us.”

She tried on a warm smile, reaching her hands out toward Aika once again. 

pullofthebowstring:

“Yes,” Jaliqai agreed. She came to wrap her arms around Aika as the other woman released her hand, wanting to remain close to her. “I am so happy that we are finally able to go home. That we’ll finally be together for real. That we can start our life together.”

She squeezed her arms about her fiancée tightly in her happiness.

“Aren’t you excited?”

She wanted these things yes, but the cost of them is what had her so torn. Was she excited? It was a simple question with a complicated answer. One Aika did not want to give.

And so instead she brought a her sword calloused hand to her fiancé’s cheek and pulled her in for a soft, slow kiss. Perhaps she would take it as an answer or perhaps she would not think to pursue one.

One could hope.

Pulling from their kiss with a smile, reluctant, she gazed levelly into Aika’s dark eyes, searching.

pullofthebowstring:

“It does not have to be so serious,” she answered easily, waving her free hand. “There’s a lot of fun to be had in practice, if you’re doing it right.” She leaned her forehead against Aika’s, smiling deeply in the ease and familiarity of the gesture.

“I’m not here to spar. I’m just here to be with you. We haven’t had much alone time since the wedding.”

Aika closed her eyes.

There was much truth in that. They had not had much opportunity to be alone after the wedding. Practically none. Hanae and Batbayar, or both, were always somewhere nearby. There was no time or logical reason to stay at an inn either and so they all slept under the sky, at the same camp ground, far too close for any real privacy.

With a brief squeeze, Aika released Jaliqai’s hand. “We are indeed alone now.” Unless Hanae should suddenly get over her bloodied knee. Aika could not imagine how Hanae would have fared should Manami ever have turned her wrath upon her.

“Yes,” Jaliqai agreed. She came to wrap her arms around Aika as the other woman released her hand, wanting to remain close to her. “I am so happy that we are finally able to go home. That we’ll finally be together for real. That we can start our life together.”

She squeezed her arms about her fiancée tightly in her happiness.

pullofthebowstring:

“You looked so serious,” Jaliqai said fondly, good natured mirth in her words, “I didn’t want to disturb you.” 

The sun shone dappled through the leaves, making Aika’s hair appear blacker, if possible. Around her shoulders, Jaliqai’s own dark braids shone red as clay when the sun hit them just right.  

She reached out, sliding the ends of Aika’s hair through her fingers absently. 

“No I’m here alone. Batbayar is fretting over Hanae. I think he is in love.”

A small, sour knot formed briefly within her chest at that statement. It was a joke though, right? Maybe? It was hard to tell at times. Aika chose not to respond to it.

Satisfied that all remains of the snake had been removed, Aika stuffed the cloth back into her satchel.

“Practice is serious.” Aika shrugged. “Generally speaking.” She could certainly think of a few sparring sessions that had not been.

She laced her fingers with her fiancé’s free hand. “Did you come to spar? I do not know how good of a partner I will be; I have worn myself out a little.” Not terribly, but enough where she knew she could not push herself too much farther without jeopardizing her strength in fending off a potential attack.

“It does not have to be so serious,” she answered easily, waving her free hand. “There’s a lot of fun to be had in practice, if you’re doing it right.” She leaned her forehead against Aika’s, smiling deeply in the ease and familiarity of the gesture.

pullofthebowstring:

“Impressive,” Jaliqai praised from where she’d been silently watching her fiancée amongst the trees. Aika had been disappearing to be alone more and more often these days, and she had little love for this change in her lover’s personality.

Jaliqai had known from the moment they’d shared the kiss in the great hall at that fancy house in the far South of the Fire Nation that Aika was not…convinced. No, if anything she had taken steps backward since that time, away from what little progress they had made in the department of her sister.

It worried Jaliqai more than she cared to admit. She had seen that it worried Batbayar and Hanae too. 

The young woman slunk forward, revealing herself to Aika, a smile pressed firmly over her features. She was determined to have a talk with her. A real talk. A talk in which Aika finally opened up to her about what was going on.

All she needed was the opportunity, in Jaliqai’s mind. She simply had not had it before. Not while they had been travelling to the wedding. Not while they had been there. Not in the hours and hours they spent together with the other two members of their party since then as they absconded as quickly as was possible toward Jaliqai and Batbayar’s home, and safety for good. 

“Your skills are unparralled.”

“Thank you.” She said, because it is a thing one says. There was a quiet pause before she continued, “I didn’t hear you.” How long had Jaliqai been there? Clearly she had allowed herself to become too absorbed in avoiding her thoughts. A dangerous thing.

The snake was thrashing a little too close to her ankles, Aika took a step back and around it to evade the chance of being bitten. As she approached her fiance Aika mirrored her smile though it did not entirely reach her eyes.

Aika’s fingers picked at the lacings of her satchel. “Are the others with you or are they back at camp?” She doubted that Hanae was with her. The handmaid generally did not come to watch her practice unless invited to do so.

The satchel opened partially and she proceeded to fish her fingers within it in search of a rag to clean off what little gore the serpent had left upon her blade. She removed a cloth that had been stained with a minor scrape Hanae had incurred upon the road earlier in the day, one she might had been annoyed at stopping over had it not been someone she held any fondness for. It took little work at all to clean off what little the snake had left behind.

“You looked so serious,” Jaliqai said fondly, good natured mirth in her words, “I didn’t want to disturb you.” 

The sun shone dappled through the leaves, making Aika’s hair appear blacker, if possible. Around her shoulders, Jaliqai’s own dark braids shone red as clay when the sun hit them just right.  

She reached out, sliding the ends of Aika’s hair through her fingers absently. 

Between… || Closed RP

@pullofthebowstring

Hanae had gone from oddly absent to terribly present. Aika knew why, and while a part of her did not like feeling like Hanae was thinking out each move made between them during the journey to the Northern border, a part of her appreciated it. The more distance closed between her and the crags, more so herself and home, the more what conflict she felt grew.

It was growing hard to see the absence of Manami’s mistreatment and more so the destruction of what closeness they had shared. Was it really all that bad? Had she become so swept up in the opinions of outsiders that her vision of their relationship had become distorted. Hadn’t they built a sandcastle together during the festival of salt while waiting for the crowds of Northern nobility within their home to thin for the evening? They watched the ships pass earlier in the day and discussed how their ancestors might have chosen to plunder them, what weaknesses they noticed upon first glance.

If their relationship was so dreadful could they have shared such peaceful moments?

The muscles within her arms had started to ache and burn with the extra effort and extended time she was placing into her forms. If she sat still there was more room for her mind to be active scouring through unanticipated twists and turns; practice was repetitive, comforting.

Out of the edge of her eyesight there was a thin flashing ribbon of green and the swordswoman brought her blade to meet it. Thud, thud; the severed pieces hit the ground quietly. Aika had a strong idea as to what she had felled before her eyes even cast down upon the wriggling halves of the harmless green tree snake. Bordering somewhere between apathy and mild curiosity she watched the back half slow to a twitch while the other continued to writhe.

“Impressive,” Jaliqai praised from where she’d been silently watching her fiancée amongst the trees. Aika had been disappearing to be alone more and more often these days, and she had little love for this change in her lover’s personality.

Jaliqai had known from the moment they’d shared the kiss in the great hall at that fancy house in the far South of the Fire Nation that Aika was not...convinced. No, if anything she had taken steps backward since that time, away from what little progress they had made in the department of her sister.

It worried Jaliqai more than she cared to admit. She had seen that it worried Batbayar and Hanae too. 

The young woman slunk forward, revealing herself to Aika, a smile pressed firmly over her features. She was determined to have a talk with her. A real talk. A talk in which Aika finally opened up to her about what was going on.

All she needed was the opportunity, in Jaliqai’s mind. She simply had not had it before. Not while they had been travelling to the wedding. Not while they had been there. Not in the hours and hours they spent together with the other two members of their party since then as they absconded as quickly as was possible toward Jaliqai and Batbayar’s home, and safety for good. 

scarbaring:

[x]

“Didn’t anyone tell you? Eavesdropping isn’t an invitation. Besides, doomed or not, isn’t being forgotten just as bad?” 

“Well I suppose that that is a matter of perspective...and whether you wish to be known for great things.” Jaliqai patted her dragon-elk’s neck, clearly relaxed and uncaring about the eavesdropping charge levelled at her by the scarred boy before her. 

“I for one do, so I guess it would be terrible to be forgotten.” She reached into her saddle bag, retrieving two chestnut-apples and tossing one of the glossy red fruits toward him. 

TAGGED BY : @littlesistersword

TAGGING : everyone

NAME: Jaliqai

NICKNAME:  Jal, Jali

GENDER: Female

AGE: 25

DATE OF BIRTH: 82 AG

OCCUPATION: Heir to her father’s Clan; next Chieftain of the Clan (Current Chieftain as her father has passed away, but her own family doesn’t know yet).

██▒   APPEARANCE

EYE COLOR: Black

HAIR COLOR: Dark brown

HEIGHT: 5′7″

SCARS: A light scar on her left cheek from a narrow miss with an opponent’s arrow once. It stretches back across her ear. A long one on her right side from a skirmish gone wrong.

OVERWEIGHT: No

UNDERWEIGHT: No

██▒   FAVORITE

COLOR: Maroon

ANIMAL/S: Dragon-Elk

MOVIE/S:  -

TV SHOW:  -

FOOD: Jaliqai is a total foodie. She pretty much loves everything, especially because she doesn’t get much variety in her own diet up in the Crags. Coming South has been great for her food wise. I think she particularly loves roast duck.

DRINK: Tea, rice wine

BOOK: None.

██▒   HAVE THEY

PASSED UNIVERSITY: No

HAD SEX: Yes

HAD SEX IN PUBLIC: Yes

GOTTEN PREGNANT: No

KISSED A BOY: Yes

KISSED A GIRL:  Yes

GOTTEN TATTOOS: She has a dragon tattooed up her left side.

HAD A BROKEN HEART: Yes

BEEN IN LOVE: Yes

STAYED UP FOR MORE THAN 24 HOURS: Yes

██▒   ARE THEY

A VIRGIN: No

A KISSER: As in casually? No.

SCARED EASILY: No

JEALOUS EASILY: No

TRUSTWORTHY: Yes

IN LOVE: Yes

SINGLE: No.

██▒   RANDOM QUESTIONS

HAVE THEY HARMED THEMSELVES: No

THOUGHT OF SUICIDE: No

ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: No

WANTED TO KILL SOMEONE: Yes

DROVE A CAR: A what?

HAVE/HAD A JOB: herding the dragon-elk, helping with things at camp; everyone pulls their weight at home no matter their status.

HAVE ANY FEARS: Losing Aika, not being adequate at her job as chieftain

██▒   FAMILY

SIBLINGS: All deceased.

PARENTS: Jin and Mina

CHILDREN: None