R H E A
The kirin kept her eyes on her task, though they were tempted away by the sound of swamp sparrows and insects. Ilati, though she may have been, she held a special respect for the world around her -- deciding to balance her acts of healing in a more harmonious nature rather than to try to bend it all to her will. She believed in the gentler ways, though that made her weak in the eyes of many, ways that were becoming a thing of the past as darkness seemed to envelop the Ilati. She did not believe that once they had been the monsters they had been made out to be, or the monsters that some were becoming.
Her tail flicked against her hind legs, and she stretched just a little higher – her neck fully extended as she concentrated on her work. Her dark tresses brushed against the patterning of scales, shiny things with very few young scales. Her scales had been found to possess interesting qualities that made them excellent ingredients in a variety of potions and medicines. Her brush was a little unsteady, despite the grooved layout being made beforehand – but she supposed it added to the mystery of it all.
She grinned at the thought, wondering just how many stories swirled around their existence. Perhaps as many as she had heard of the outsiders? “… What are you doing?”
A loud voice startled her thoughts, the grip she had on her small pot of paint loosening just enough so that it fell to the ground, it’s rough landing among the roots causing it to spill.
The mare’s head whipped in the direction that the sound had come, her teal eyes glittering with fear that quickly morphed into annoyance. A woman in white stood across the way, her hair and a pair of wings steeped in gold with a curious looking bird perched upon her. Her ears fell back against her head as she glanced down at the mess that had been made, white paint splattered along the twisting roots of the swamp tree and also upon her forelegs, giving her a pair of white socks that she hadn’t been born with.
Her gaze returned to the stranger who stood in the distance, whom she turned her back on to begin to pack up her things. The pot of white paint had not broken, merely spilled but she would have to return to the village before she could finish this job. Which would mean another day at least, once she cleared this mess. Ignoring the stranger might not have been the best of tactics, but she knew that if she had opened her mouth just then that something ugly would have come out.
When her things were stuffed back into the satchel, and she had hoisted it over her head to sling it around her neck – she made a careful path down, jumping from the tall roots of the tree onto the marshy earth below, her cloven hooves sinking slightly into the murk. She typically work a cloak of moss, in lieu of the animal pelt her people preferred—but the stranger had already seen her, there was no point in hiding herself further. Her stride was slow and purposeful, towards the stranger rather than away from her and her pet. Strands of hair curled around her horns, the spirals brushing her shoulders ever so slightly. Her gait was smooth despite the uneven ground, and she stepped willingly into the marshy waters without hesitation.
“Thank you…for that.” She said with a quip of attitude. She was not sure if the water would wash away all the paint that had spilled on her. “But as to what I was doing…” She said slowly, looking over the other female with interest. She had had few interactions with others who were not one of the Ilati. “Isn’t it a little obvious?” She asked, a sly smile breaking out upon her features. “Or are you one of the foolish ones who wander into places that they don’t know who they belong to?”
Rhea turned her head, indicating the swamp around them. “You outsiders have become more and more bold, to wander these waters. Even the flesh-eater doesn’t seem to be enough to scare you away anymore.” Her voice had taken a gentler tone, not so condescending as it had begun. She had no experience, nor interest in causing too much of a stir. “I’ll have to come back to finish that one later.” She gestured to the tree she had been working on. She felt a tad wary, hard not to when your head had been filled with the stories of these people who had taken her own as their personal healers and slaves. But she was sure that in this environment, she could hold an edge strong enough to allow her to escape. "Who are you?"
She glanced at the bird, the purple eyes unlike anything she had ever seen on a swamp bird. Somehow, she felt the threat of such a creature, although she assumed it was just the size of it that was so intimidating.
@Israfel
