Star Wars Roleplay: Chaos

Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Slings and Arrows [Ylva]

hc9C7DO.jpg

It was a beautiful Midvinter morn. The Sun had only just poked up over the horizon and bathed the forests of green with a pinkish hew. The shadows of the eve had not yet vanished but cling to the branches and under growth like the shroud of snow that lay thin on the ground and in the tree tops. A gentle fog seeped up from the earth, swirling lazy on a soft breeze, it made her a little home sick for the veil of mist were her home nestles within the safety of it. She would return there soon enough, besides there was much more pleasant things to distract her mind. A beautiful set of greens eyes so easily recalled to her memory, what came with them was beyond her will to ignore, not that she wanted too.

She let out a long frustrated sigh, her shoulders slumped somewhat as it became evident to her that her distraction would never go away, the thought turned her lips into a smile as she raised her bow once more, the arrow already nooked and she pulled back, the string tight and tense straining against her fingers before she released it. The hissing before the thud sent a flock of avian high to the air with the intrusion of the noise and a bit wary of intent. Yet the arrow did not seek them, but a target curved into a piece of dead wood that rested against the base of a tree.

The aim was off mark, not by much but enough to frustrate her, something was not right. She checked her stance, wondered if her arms had been in position but she could not pin point it. Iounn tried again, a little better this time and she would keep practicing until she was satisfied. Which that day would never come, as one that always wants for perfect in her technique, one is never satisfied.

Her elven ears turned slightly toward the direction of a soft noise, her eyes the only thing to shift .. someone approached.

[member="Ylva Solveig"]
 

Ylva Heavenshield

Guest
Y
The time away from Himmeldal and her partner Théodred Heavenshield offered Ylva a chance to come to know the land of Midvinter of her own choosing; she had taken it upon herself to spend some time apart, she wishing to explore the Tháinbroek though too delighting in every opportunity to wander off route with her bear of a wolf, Bjomolf traipsing through the snow carrying her astride upon the thick leather harness that she had made for him, accompanied with a larger quiver for which she could draw from if and when her own had been emptied into the flesh of others.

This World was still all so new to her, unlike that of Niruaun that she had spent such an isolated life upon, learning every route and curve to the land, her inexplicable bond with the natural world and energies around her but an aspect of what left her so keenly invested in the nomadic lifestyle she had claimed for herself. Out of admiration both shown and taken for the way that Théo had spoken to her of his homeland, Ylva had quickly acknowledged the need to find her own love for Midvinter if she were ever to truly find home in it's harsh wilderness and a true place within his family. Though she would never be so bold as to speak on such things, even as stubborn and proud as she was, these were things that all Women thought of eventually..Even if settling down seemed like such an impossibility to her, a contradiction of every day she had roamed the lonely horizons, ever the avoidance of social interactions.

She didn't trust easily. It had seemed like the best assurance to keep her life safely within her own control and a knife from being plunged into her back. The clan of savages she had been forced to grow and learn from had forever encouraged her that she would only ever be the one dependable soul in her own life and they would continue to remind her every time she showed a moment of weakness back home. Ultimately their mistreatment of her had led to their deaths, though the lesson was learned and not until her days upon Midvinter had they begun to conflict with the desires and interests that were finally returning to her; the effect and influence of an otherwise normal life coming to find home in her heart thanks to the man that had proven against everything else she had known, not all people were as false as she had been led to believe...

...-Such was why she did not loose her arrow in the back of [member="Ióunn Wuduælfen"]. Her approach had been near silent, she ever the skilled huntress in many a climate, the snow however stifled her some and every carefully placed step was as easily miscalculated where the white backdrop hid the possible underbrush beneath. Still, Ióunn had picked up on her approach and this intrigued Ylva. Her brows furrowed somewhat, rarely being noticed until she was at the ready to announce her presence, Bjomolf it seemed had noticed this too and even from afar, she could hear the growl of her companion, forcing a near silent sigh to escape her lips, the bow lowering only briefly as her eyes left the figure ahead of her in favor for the great beast ever watchful over her.

Her attire, though of furs unnatural to this would would otherwise paint a pretty clear picture as to the likes of her livelihood and one of whom had become comfortable living off of the land, surviving of her own accord and making do with every possible benefit she could pry from the corpse of each kill. Nature was a splendor to behold and everything that was hunted, she had learned to respect in the hierarchy and natural order of things. Every hunt was a challenge, every mark hit was a gift from the world itself were you capable of reaping the rewards; everything left to waste in the aftermath of your kills end, an insult to it's life and a show of ignorance in the hunters skill for which would be found lacking.

Looking ahead, her sight was keener than most typical humans, a skill that perhaps was common between the two for this other was clearly of similar tread along the path of life and learning. Her gaze sought to pass Ióunn in favor for that which she sought to meet with the arrow head she had loosed from her bow. A weapon that Ylva herself carried and was most fond of over the technologies that otherwise plagued and insulted peoples natural prowess in life and the exploration and challenge of their limits.

Rather than greeting the woman, the bow for which she still held turned the arrow notched against it's wire in the direction of her target, still a distance away, Ylva tilted her aim and adjusted her footing and weight to favor a stable footing before letting fly the release of her arrow. The wind swirling around the projectiles tale, the head fashioned of phrik was a design for which she carried for the piercing of armors and added some weight to the shot, an account for both the distance and wind that wept against her cheeks leaving a residue of the winters breath upon her pale skin.

Her aim was perfect, her mark dead center with the piece of wood that had been pegged against the far off tree. A small smile escaping her otherwise stoic visage as she lowered her bow reluctantly, a part of her questioning the need to pull another from her quiver yet with her axes against her belt, she refrained and instead hoped that this one would not give her the incentive to fall back upon their practice.
 
The young teenage Aelvar had given no reason for any sort of threat to the woman, it had been a happenstance that she had wondered upon her in all the forest of Midvinter, so Iounn did not understand the feelings she got from her. The life of the young girl so vastly different from this woman who, by all accounts, lacked the ability to trust anyone which was probably as trait that would see her survive but gain little friends where distrust was unwarranted. But for Iounn this ability or rather, lack of life experience, would get her into a lot of trouble. But regardless of this, Iounn sensed no ill intent in her .. what she did sense was the power of the Frostvatn. This woman was like her, she had never met anyone outside of Averlorn that possessed this blessing.

The hiss of the arrow passed by her, Iounn watched it hit the mark as her aim was true, dead center of her practice board. Iounn walked to the target and carefully removed both arrows, close to the point of entry so not to snap the shaft. She replaced her own back in her quiver, but intrigued by the woman's arrow, so different in design she took note of it before raising her arm to offer it back to her.

"You are a very good archer. I will be too, one day". Iounn was aware she needed more practice, her ability although quite good was nothing compared to her father's or that of the Rangers. She took notice of the woman dressed in some sort of skin of an animal she did not recognise but she was Valkyri, that much was clear to her.

"My name is Iounn of Averlorn. Are you the daughter of a Chieftain", she had to be, this woman's face was cut from noble blood.
[member="Ylva Solveig"]
 

Ylva Heavenshield

Guest
Y
[member="Ióunn Wuduælfen"]

Ylva watched the Aelvar carefully as she moved on to fetch the two arrows that had been pegged to the training board, her demeanor was one of civility and peacefulness and thus rather encouraging to the Huntress, enough so to try to loosen her shoulders and seek to lower her guard some, not completely but with the hope that she might not come off in any way offensive to the curious and estranged younger woman. Her understanding of their mutual practice was obviously keen, the way that Ióunn appeared to be studying Ylva's self hand-crafted arrow, eyes trailing from the arrow-head itself and down towards the tail-feathers that worked to the projectiles balance and aerodynamics in flight.

"Thanks..." Ylva responded simply though none the less pleased with the Aelvar's opinion and regard for her skill with the Bow. "You yourself seem to have good form..." She added, complimenting the woman in favor of what Ylva had been able to watch and study in her slow and quiet approach just prior. She intended in inquiring about the girl's learning and how she had come to find such a practice with such grace, only to be beaten to the punch, so to speak, with a remark and question that Ylva could really only receive in the form of a joke.

"Hah!" she exclaimed in both suprise yet humor, her face lighting up a little and her general demeanor seeming to ease, to smooth over compared to her former off-set; "Your aim with the bow is obviously far sharper than your perception of others" she soon answered in the form of light-hearted and gentle teasing; it was still too early to tell whether the Aelvar would prove to be a friend or not yet so far she'd given Ylva no reason to mistrust her. "Nah, no such luck sorry, love...-I'm not from Midvinter, only just got 'ere within the last few weeks, actually. I'm still getting the feel for the land which is why I'm out here by myself".

Unfortunately for the Huntress with a fire in her hair, the Aelvar was indeed on to something, where Ylva remained ignorant of her Origin. Nirauan had forever been her home since the time she could retain memories, or so she thought at least; no telling the mental trauma that the witnessed murder of her parents had held upon her mind as a child. She had more or less blanked everything from that previous life out in favor of coming to accept and more importantly survive and grow strong from the life that was forced upon her instead.

"I'm afraid I never had the luxury of fancy clothes and the coin to attend the lessons of some ponce who thinks he knows better" She grinned, flashing Ióunn a look with the presumption that she'd understand Ylva's perceptions of high-born's and their typical sheltered lives they were led through. "Everything I've learned, started with what you're doing here...I taught myself over years of practice. It never came easy but nothing worth it's skin ever does" she shrugged, dismissing the remark of difficulty in the practice as though it mattered no longer.


"Where are you from around here?" she soon turned the subject back upon the Aelver, curious to know more about her.
 
"That is probably very true, I don't get out much", she offered in response to her little tease about perceptions. "I am good for my age I suppose, I know I am better than the others girls and boys for that matter, but I want to be better. I want to be as good as my father". Her mother, the Queen of the Aelvar did not have need of such skills, she was powerful in other regards especially that which connects her to the Frostvatn.

But when the strange woman spoke about not being from Midvinter, Iounn's eyes lit up with surprise and delight. "Where are you from? .. you are an Offworlder?". Oh this was wonderful, finally Iounn met someone other than Valkyri to speak to. "Tell me everything!, I want to know everything about what lay beyond the stars". Any thoughts of training further or asking for advice from his huntress was gone in an instant, much is the way of young teenage minds, no matter where they herald from.

"You are very skilled and it is a testament to you to be self taught. But do you judge an animal by the fur in which they stand? before you know of that creatures mentality? I don't think you would. You should not judge others the same way simply by what they dress in or their birth", Iounn's brow lifted at her last comment, she had insulted her heritage although indirectly not know Iounn's birth right. "There is wisdom in all people no matter their birth place. Don't condemn that of which you have no knowledge". and by this she referred to tarring all with the same brush.

"I am Ióunn Wuduælfen, I come from Averlorn which is just over those mountains", she turned and pointed to the snow capped ranges behind them clearly seen above the tree tops.
[member="Ylva Solveig"]
 

Ylva Heavenshield

Guest
Y
Ylva had offended the girl, [member="Ióunn Wuduælfen"] speaking her mind on the matter of other peoples and their birthrights or origins as though she herself owned that guilt somehow. Her brows flattened somewhat in hesitant remorse, not having expected the Aelvar to respond as bluntly as she did; her words carried no hostility but there was certainly a firm dedication to their passing and as Ylva found herself twirling the arrow around her fingers at her side, she for a moment found herself a loss for words in how to appropriately respond.

"The people of Midvinter are unlike any other that I have known..." Ylva replied, more her thoughts spoken aloud by want of the subject rather than a direct response so to speak, yet there was a certain want for silence behind her tone that whispered her apology; "There is one such man that I've met, the one that brought me to your world, that has proven what you've said to be true. His family is of pure blood to these lands..." Ylva slowly lowered herself to crouch atop the snow, her hands sweeping it aside for search of the soil beneath, cold yet not frozen enough to avoid being pulled from the rest of the earth and molded by her fingers, as if to admire and appreciate it's natural texture and some meaning beyond that..

"I did not mean to offend you in anyway...-Life where I come from was unforgiving. Trust was scarce in my upbringing..." She glanced back up at the Aelvar somewhat reluctantly, her gaze soon falling back to the land that surrounded them, searching it for any sign of movement. Bjomolf seemed to have wandered off ahead, the great beast having come to own Midvinter as his new kingdom, it was a comfort for Ylva herself to know that he was happy here too. "I've not heard much of Averlorn, not until today...-What are your people like?".
 
She nodded her head slightly to recognise the young woman's apology, although she had not really offended Iòunn, it was more that her high born attitude had kicked in and part of her wished it hadn't for it kind of confirmed the young lady's words. "Come lets walk and find out more of each other". After all that is the best way to remove ignorance from both of them. Iòunn would guide Ylva toward a clearing in the forest that she loved most dearly, a place set among the oak and hawthorn, a place where her father would bring her to train in the ways of the Frostvatn.

"I must live by my own words Ylva, and seek to understand more of not only this world but others. What is it like out there?", she looked toward the skies and tried to picture all the stars that she sees in the night sky. "You know the Aelvar find it difficult to trust as well. For many years, centuries in fact, the Aelvar had not set foot outside of this place, hidden among the enchanted mist and we remained here until a small boy entered our realm and with him his father", she remembered the day most clearly, it was the first time she had met Thrand and the King of the Valkyri.

"You see many centuries ago, the Aelvar and the Valkyri were not allies but enemies most fierce, it was a lack of understanding of each other that led them to the wars. But the Aelvar were outnumbered and almost wiped out. So my people retreated to the forests and remained hidden until the Valkyri forgot them, and the Aelvar became part of folk lore".

The grass was so soft and beautiful here, the small creatures loved this place as much as she and even before Iòunn would invite Ylva to sit with her, the hares came out to play among them running and bounding around their legs. It was one of those talents that Iòunn had with them, they drawn to her.


[member="Ylva Solveig"]
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom