Jonyna Si
Ko Vuto
Rayia's ears twitched and a small, bittersweet smile crossed her face at Ko's remark. She was surprised that he could find humor in the face of such a horrendous injury.
'It says a lot about him,' she thought. She gently placed a few fingers on the proffered arm that Ko had unveiled. Similarly, she placed soft fingers on Jonyna's shoulder, giving both a light, reassuring squeeze. Scars that deep held meaning, and she was touched by the fact that both her mentor and fellow student had so willingly offered admission of their greatest lessons.
"Thank you. I will try... to ignore my discomfort," she whispered quietly, and continued to dab her fingers in the paint. She drew soft, swirling patterns reminiscent of crescent moons across her skin and fur culminating in a connection to the marks on her brow.
And so, Rayia was faced with her first test.
'Getting down from this tree without falling on my face,' Rayia thought. She watched as Jonyna flitted from branch to branch, using the slickness of the bark's moisture to propel her descent. Rayia's gaze drifted from the fading silhouette of her master and back to the ground looming away from her. She swallowed, shirking back from the edge. She hadn't done much tree-surfing, and never anything of this magnitude. The times she had needed to descend it had been just a few branches. A quick zip from here to there to collect something, or travel the short distance from Jonyna's house to the space-port whenever they were to depart on a mission.
Rayia shook her head.
"I'll just have to climb down. Slow and steady is fine." She muttered, turning around to face the tree and bracing herself. Digging her claws into the bark, Rayia slowly lowered herself from the branch. Assuming a bunched up position with her forearms against the bark and her clawed feet supporting her weight, Rayia bit her claws into the slick bark before slowly starting to shimmy and slide down the surface until she hit the next branch.
Rayia felt her cheeks burning as two Cathar children skidded past her, laughing as one chased the other through the branches. The smaller one, a girl with startingly green eyes, paused and stared at Rayia as she made her way down the tree.
"Is something wrong with her?" She asked her friend, who also stopped to watch Rayia's descent.
"I don't know... Hey miss, do you need help? We can get help!" The other one called, glancing around to see if there were any other adults in the vicinity.
Gritting her teeth, Rayia tried to stop a tinge of her frustration and shame from bleeding into her voice.
"No, I'm okay. Don't worry. I'm just taking my time." In her head, the Felacatian could hear a small voice nagging, 'You have kits worried about you. Isn't that...great?'