skills;
notes; dated for 4/22

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All of the rapid fire change in her young life had plagued Eidola with more trouble in the confines of her mind and memory. She was almost six months now and as if going through all of the changes in her body as she grew and became lanky and awkward wasn't enough; her emotional and mental state were in turmoil. She startled awake; as she did most nights lately, a nightmare robbing her of good sleep, stirred with a gasping breath and pounding heart. Purple eyes blinking against the darkness settling contently on the sleeping forms of Kyros and their father. Eidola sought to settle her breathing, quietly as she could before slowly unfurling and peeling away from the warmth of the den she set out into the night, burdened eyes casting skyward.

But there was something; something her dreams had brought to her a world beside their own that Eidola was certain she could see into. As she struggled to understand the things she saw alone; mother had left her before offering guidance she may or may not have, and father seemed to have little ability to aid her. So she strayed and curled her body in on itself sitting she tucked her tail close and contemplated the meaning of the words her dreams whispered to her.

'Ait Eile - welcome to Ait Eile' it was where the spirits seemed to live, but whether or not they were real ─ she couldn't tell. Dark ears pitched back against her crown, eyes falling from the stars and back to the earth under her paws, exhaustion and stress plaguing the youth. 

She was too young to be contemplating these things.

All alone in the middle of the night.

❝ speech ❞

1/5 thank you for forward dating!

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cloud lash had not expected company.
her steps were light, a whisper through the brush, the caribou-hide shifting faintly against her back as she approached a patch of blue-rooted sage. the wind moved it gently, as if skedzay herself breathed through the leaves. she was crouched low, muzzle to the soil, when a ripple of movement caught her eye — not a creature, not prey, but a girl, small and folded in on herself beneath the starlight.
red eyes met purple across the hollow. still. the girl was still, but frayed, her spirit loose and tugging, like smoke not yet shaped into prayer. cloud lash tilted her head, a single ear flicking back in question. her voice did not come. it could not — the words the other might need were not in her tongue. instead, she stepped forward, slow and cautious, and let the silence speak.
from beneath her hide she drew a small feather, tawny and curled. she did not know if it had fallen from skedzay's wing, but it had come to her on a windless day. cloud lash did not place it at the girl’s paws, but near — just near enough for her to see.
then she waited, quiet and unblinking, a sentinel in the moonlight. the spirits watched. and so would she.

skills;
notes;

---

It was easy; perhaps too easy in the way Eidola's mind was tangled within itself for someone to come upon her and her not realize it. When the shimmer of movement caught her eyes she startled, entire body hitching and recoiling, heartrate rising in her chest for a moment as her gaze lifted to find a set of crimson pools upon her. The red was unlike something she had seen before, piercing and sharp. Like the red that covered her mothers fur the day Gamma had died. She looked over her shoulder, dark ears flat considering her options to slip away ─ but the other was upon her in a moment. The silence in which she moved a stark contrast to Eidola's youthful clumsiness.

So instead she held her breath, the tension growing within her own body. But what of all things did the other present ─ but a feather. The young girl watched with a new found wonder and questioned if her company was truly here, was she like herself; could she touch her? Or was she a figment of Ait Eile; of her own mind.

She only looked for a while, before she slowly eventually unraveled herself. Every motion was careful, soft and delicate like the feather drifting to the earth she approached with an innate caution. Pausing while there was still space between them, ❝ ...where did you come from? ❞ maybe she wasn't crazy.


❝ speech ❞

2/5

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cloud lash did not know the woman’s words—only the hush behind them. soft like duck down, like talon feather songs.
she blinked, crimson eyes gentle and curious, and then reached her nose forward to the space between them where the feather still lay. she touched it once, reverently, before looking up with a small smile. her tail wagged in loose rhythm behind her.
then, wordless, she turned her snout toward the great woodlands in the distance—the dense green veil where willows creaked and shadows danced. her paw lifted, pressing lightly into the earth, pointing with a small sweep.
that was her answer.
talon feather, she murmured in sharadoii, not expecting understanding. then, more brightly, with a tilt of her head and a sweep of her ears, she asked:
where do you come from?
but her voice did not carry the weight of demand—only invitation. she motioned to the girl’s legs, her paws, her body, her path, as if to say what her lack of common could not; your home?

skills;
notes;

---

She was met with silence, her head tilted subtly barely a twitch in her movement. Purple eyes followed the other girls movements, her nose brushing the feather before looking back to Eidola expectantly. Her dark ears swiveled, flicking as uncertainty found her it lived in her eyes and then cascaded down her body. She wasn't sure what to do here, everyone in her life had always communicated with words but...maybe this held some sort of deeper meaning.

Eidola's pondering was interrupted by the others movements again, her bloodied eyes following her nose to the world beyond them deep into the forest, gesturing further she blinked as confusion claimed her. "talon feather," but it was not in a language Eidola understood her brow furrowed, ❝ I don't... ❞ until ─ understanding was whispered into her ear by the voices of spirits that lived in her head. 'the forest...ait eile' her head swiveled, ears turning to catch the hushed words. Was that....where this girl was from?

'where do you come from?' more foreign words, but Eidola wanted to understand, so she studied the way her paw gestured, tracing the movements with an apologetic half smile and dip of her nose as she struggled she lifted her paw to her chest and tilted her head in question ❝ ....me? ❞ did she want her name?


❝ speech ❞

cloud lash watched the woman closely, patient as the tide, though confusion flickered across her features when words did not come easily between them. she saw the hesitation, the searching look in her eyes, and for a moment she simply smiled, soft and encouraging.
she tried to form what little common tongue she had grasped from passing traders, her voice a shy murmur: h-home...? the word wobbled from her lips, uncertain but earnest.
then she tapped her chest gently with a paw, holding herself steady against the tremble of excitement and nerves. nuvts’eyaȟa’, she said proudly, a name that meant little in common speech but everything to her in the old ways.
when the girl echoed the gesture, paw to chest, cloud lash's tail gave a small, hopeful wag. yes. she understood enough. so cloud lash nodded eagerly, her red eyes bright, urging her with a tilt of her head to share—to tell her, in whatever way she could, where she had come from.

skills;
notes;

---

"h-home...?" oh...oh home. A deeper sadness, richer than the storm cloud already lived around the girl manifested then. And she thought back to her mother, to her other sisters, to Avon. Eidola grew a little heavier as she solemnly shook her head ❝ No...no home ❞ she didn't like how it felt to say it out loud, the way her throat tightened; and burned. But it also came so easily because it was true she didn't really have one anymore, she was a wayward wanderer with her father and sister.

"nuvts’eyaȟa’," she offered a small, gentle smile through her pain. ❝ Your home? ❞ she asked to confirm, hoping she could lean on the word she had knowledge the older woman did understand. While she didn't understand the words, or what they might mean - it sounded beautiful by the name alone.


❝ speech ❞

cloud lash watched the woman’s face crumple with sadness, the way her voice softened around the word home. a pain she did not fully understand but could feel just the same. she blinked slowly, heart twisting, and stepped closer, brushing her shoulder lightly against the other’s in quiet solidarity.
when the woman repeated nuvts’eyaȟa’, cloud lash smiled, small and earnest. she shook her head again, more gently this time, her black-tipped ears flicking. she lifted a paw and pressed it to her own chest, fur brushing against the simple string of beads she wore. nuvts’eyaȟa’, she said again, firmer. my... name.
then she nodded, a little slower, to confirm she understood the woman's question. her home? cloud lash’s red eyes swept toward the open valley. she gestured outward with her nose. home... there. her voice was halting, but sure, painting a future still being built. she would make it a home — for herself, for grey shrike, for any who might follow.
and, maybe, for this wandering soul too, if she wished it.

The touch was a blessing, and even though they had only just met she felt more warmth from this woman than many of her own family had given her in months. She pressed into it, gently allowing her shoulder to lean into her company's. Ears would flick in attention to her, no not the name of her home. "nuvts’eyaȟa’," she said again, and it clicked before she confirmed it. "my... name."

She followed her eyes, "home... there." the youth gave a small nod in understanding before mimicking her motions, lifting a paw to her own chest in the same way she had done ❝ Eidola ❞ she said softly. She regarded her for a moment, appreciating the content silence ❝ Your name is very pretty ❞ she said finally.

─
❝ speech ❞

a light blink, as if surprised that her name had been heard — had been held. cloud lash’s ears fanned back shyly, though the gesture was not fearful. she leaned a little more into the woman’s shoulder, drawn by the warmth there as if by old instinct.
in turn, she brushed her paw against eidola’s shoulder in a clumsy echo of the woman’s kindness. eidola, she said in a breath, tasting the syllables with quiet reverence. she did not speak further. there was no need. the closeness between them, the soft crossing of breath and the gentle lean of shoulders, said enough. for the sharadoii girl, silence was not absence; it was communion.
a shy smile flickered across cloud lash’s face, small and fleeting. she dipped her head, bumping her forehead lightly against eidola’s shoulder in a gesture that meant many things at once: thanks, welcome, trust. her tail brushed the ground once in a slow, heavy beat, stirring a few loose feathers from the dry grass.
when she finally spoke again, it was only a whisper, carried like a feather on the morning wind. good, cloud lash said, the word small but certain. everything else — the warmth, the safety, the shared names — lived in the space between them, unspoken but deeply understood.