Private Tales We Are Castaways

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Yeshua

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RA GNAMH ISLANDS

Teth had left a bad in Yeshua's mouth.

Hell, the whole frozen north had. Against the advisement of his First Mate, the Captain of the Yarikho decided that heading to unknown waters was the best idea. Theirs was a crew cultivated by the southern seas - meaning they were used to a much warmer climate than this. But, the Baron-turned-Captain was the one who made the rules, so Yeshua had to follow them. Now, as his First Mate, his protests had some weight; but ultimately, his words fell upon deaf ears.

What's worse, their visit to Teth only seemed to restore the vicious side of Captain Erik that Yeshua had worked so hard to suppress. That bloodthirsty, ambitious side which had seem them ousted from home was now gleaming in the man's eyes. Teth, you see, was a den for all sorts of pirates. It was the sort of place that men who loved bloodshed on the high seas would gather. Now, Yeshua was a merchant by trade - Teth didn't mesh with him at all. Yet Erik? He was right at home.

Now, the bloodthirsty bug up the Captain's backside had the crew fighting for their lives. A winter storm - a winter storm - blew up as they approached the islands north of Teth. The pirates inside the city had advised there wasn't much up there, but Erik just had to see for himself. Now he had men flying overboard left and right. Yeshua howled above the noise, trying to keep the survivors steady. Trying his hardest not to be blown away himself. Fighting against cold and howling winds was not a combination he'd wish upon his worst enemy.

Neither was a plunge into the icy depths.

Splash!

The barrel had gotten him. The wind took a barrel of their freshwater and sent it hurtling into Yeshua, casting him overboard. The collision had taken the wind out of the man, so it was difficult to even fight against sinking, let alone figuring out what direction was up. All he could do was fight. He couldn't let it end like this. Not like this. Not like this...

When Yeshua came to, he felt rough edges underneath him. Rising, he saw that he had washed upon a rocky beach. Most likely the islands that they had been headed toward. Taking a step forward, he winced, noting that his body was freezing and hurting. Great. First order of business? Getting the heck out of the cold. He noted a cave's entrance nearby and stopped along the way to retrieve some driftwood. He prayed that these pieces weren't from the Yarikho. Hopefully they all made it out alive. In the meantime, he settled inside the cave and set trying to make a fire.

His crewmates would have to fend for themselves for now. Yeshua had to focus on staying alive.​
 
The Northern tundra wasn’t for everybody. The Gods of winter were mostly peaceful but it wasn’t uncommon for the weather to change instantly just like it had done today. Foreigners may be caught off guard by the sudden change, when the daylight disappeared in a thick wall of snow that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

Anouk had lived all her life up here and the skills to predict these changes in the weather had been passed down to her by her ancestors but today even she were surprised by how quickly it changed. It was like the Gods were extra agressive and she barely had any time to pull out more layers to shield herself and her companion from the icy winds that hurled dry snow across the fields.

Anouk covered most of herself with thick fur and wool and tried to put some over the back of her anxious horse as well while speaking calmly to ease the situation. The girl finally climbed on top of the brown horse and they set off to head for shelter but it seemed Attila was too frightened to co-operate with her rider and would act up several times despite Anouk’s calm voice.

It was nearly impossible to look ahead and the ground disappeared underneath them. The two took a rough tumble down a hillside which resulted in Attila breaking one of her front legs. Despite her efforts, Anouk couldn’t bring the wounded horse back up on her feet. She couldn’t risk staying by her side either as she’d surely freeze to death and so she had to make the difficult decision to leave her companion behind and head to a cave she knew wasn’t far from here. If she could just keep a straight line and not get lost.

Anouk pressed forward in a slow tempo, working against the winds as she got colder and colder. By the time she reached the opening of the cave, the girl was covered in snow and ice. Her feet hurt the most but she was fairly sure that the fall she took earlier had twisted her ankle and dislocated her shoulder as well. She stepped out of the wind and practically fell into the cave. The ability to breathe without the wind pulling the air from her lungs felt amazing and she could finally pull down the scarves that covered half her face.

Gathering herself, she sat up on her knees and looked ahead and the first thing she laid eyes on, was a pirate.
 
RA GNAMH ISLANDS

Life upon the seas was a matter of flexibility.

At the very least, one had to know how to live off of the ocean's bounty - and how to survive if stranded without wind in the sails. To this end, Yeshua knew how to fish. But in this moment, his knowledge of fire would be a life saver. During nightfall, all matter of lanterns were lit aboard merchant vessels. But they did not pry pieces off the ship to burn. No. They used magic. And in a pinch, that same simple spell could keep a man from freezing to death.

Thus, Yeshua knelt before the pieces of driftwood. His body shuddered dangerously as the cold seeped into his bones. He knew that if he did not warm up, fast, it was the end. But he also knew that overdoing it would burn through what little energy he had. The First Mate had to carefully balance every utterance.

Placing one hand atop the other, he muttered the incantation. Raw heat emanated from his open palm, quickly drying out the pieces of driftwood he had fished from the beach. Good. He then arranged them in a passable stack and repeated himself. There was a spark, ignition, and the budding fire took. Yeshua heaved a sigh as relief washed over him. But he was not out of the woods just yet. With numb fingertips, he clawed at his soaked through shirt and pried it off. He laid it neatly upon the cave floor as to dry out and turned to work on his trousers.

But it was then that he noticed movement towards the cave's entrance. Yeshua was not alone. "Who goes there?" he called.​

 
Anouk was one of the finest hunters in this area and a part of the reason to why, was because of how incredibly attentive she was to fine details. The moment her eyes landed on the foreign man, she knew he was a pirate. Some might have taken longer to come to this conclusion but the pieces jewelry in his hair, the marks on his body, his tan skin along with the fact that he was soaking wet revealed a part of his identity. The storm whipped up from seemingly nowhere and the ship he was a part of must have been caught off guard and somehow forced him off of it and into the freezing ocean.

The girl scrambled to get up from the floor so that she wouldn't appear so weak and despite her desperate need to get warm, she stayed as far away from him as possible without having to step back into the cold storm outside. Her expression was not friendly at all; with tight eyebrows and a distrustful glare she kept her arms wrapped around herself. No matter how much she wanted to hide the fact that she was wounded and quite vulnerable it became very evident the second Anouk took a few steps to her side, nearly falling over.

"Why are you here? Are there more of you nearby?" she snapped back, ignoring his initial question while her eyes flickered down at the flame by his side.
 
One of the responsibilities of First Mate was having a keen eye.

With coin and reward on the line, men were the last to want to show weakness. And it was one thing if cuts, scrapes, or the occasional bruise was kept under wraps. However, if a man was ill and downplayed it aboard? He could potentially infect an entire crew. As such, Yeshua had to learn to be observant. He had to learn how to spot winces as one walked, or a change in one's dominant hand, or stifled coughs hidden between ale swigs. So it was that, despite how cold he was, he noticed how the woman stood.

Most likely the storm had been unkind to her as well, judging by her presence in the cave. And she was worse for wear. Yeshua raised his hands as she questioned him, intent on showing he was not a threat. "My name is Yeshua." he began. "We were sailing by when the storm hit us. I was knocked overboard, no clue if the rest of the crew survived." He was honest, but didn't get into their trade. They were sailor, merchant, and pirate depending upon the Captain's mood.

"We'd best warm up, lest we die here." he added. "I mean you no harm. And...please don't mind my taking off my clothes - they're soaked."

To that end, he turned away from her and kicked off his boots, then peeled off his trousers. He kept his undergarments on for the sake of some degree of consideration. His soaked clothes were then arranged near the fire and he sat down upon the cave floor, huddling close to the flame.

 
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Now standing with one shoulder against the cave wall for support while somewhat clenching her jaw to suppress the agonising pain in her legs, she listened carefully to the way this stranger worded himself. The tone in his voice was unexpected as it carried with confidence and sincerity rather than being rough and hostile. This made her frown with annoyance as she just felt that she had to be extra careful around him. She didn't trust strangers as easily, not after the gruesome attack her tribe suffered when she was still a child.

As Yeshua turned around to pull off his cold and soaked pants, Anouk felt herself sink even more into the cold stone wall and she knew she had to get closer to the flame.

Perhaps it was because he too was in such an obvious bad situation that the girl dared push herself from the wall and slowly made her way closer to the man and the fire. Or perhaps it was just a moment of weakness and desperation. Whatever it was now brought her close enough to feel the warmth from the open flame, which made her let out a sigh of relief! She carefully got down on the cave floor again at the opposite side of the fire but not as close as he sat. After a short while in silence, she finally pulled off her thick gloves so that she could properly warm her hands while internally cursing herself for enjoying his fire, like she now owed him something.

She hadn't looked directly at him after she sat down, but now she was staring daggers at the man through the flames, reading him, carefully studying the pirate. She realised that if he didn't know what happened to the rest of the crew, then there was a very real possibility that more of them might stumble into this cave.

Anouk then pulled up one of her large hunting knives and laid it visibly in front of herself as if to warn him that she wasn't unarmed.

"When you're dry and rested, you will find your way back to where you came from." She spoke in a broken dialect, but her voice carried her warning quite well.
 
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In time, the hurt, frigid woman finally settled before the flame.

That was good. Yeshua didn't want the blood of a frostbitten woman on his hands. Frankly, he didn't want the blood of anyone on his hands - but it seemed his Captain was hellbent on changing that. At the thought, a low sigh escaped the man's lips. For one, he wondered if his fellows even survived the storm. For another, if they did, he hoped that his own absence didn't encourage the Captain's descent even faster.

When Yeshua came back to reality, he found the woman's eyes upon him. Her gaze burned through the dancing flames between them, causing his brow to raise. What's more, she produced a rather intimidating hunting knife and laid it out in front of her. While the sailor had no intent of harming a hair on her head...he understood.

Just a few days spent in Teth had opened his eyes to how dangerous his ilk could be. He couldn't blame her for taking measures to protect herself. To that end, he raised his hands once more, showing that he was quite literally unarmed and harmless. Hell, he didn't even have pants on.

When she spoke, Yeshua nodded. "That's the plan." he began. "I want to leave as fast as I can. The cold doesn't suit me." he then chuckled at his joke.

"Are you hurt?" He then asked, already knowing the answer.

 
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Her sharp gaze never left the man that was seated across from her. Staring at him through the hot flames, it dawned on her that the sudden storm that caught them all off guard might have been a blessing in disguise. Pirates like him rarely travelled alone and perhaps they had all perished in the frozen ocean. All except for him. If it wasn't for the storm, her nomadic trible might have had to face a dire situation facing these strangers that must only have had ill intents.

His voice pulled the girl out of her chain of thoughts and she lifted her chin up a bit in a display of confidence without any sign of humor despite his attempt at lighten the mood. His question was unexpected and he must have seen her eyebrown tighten with a slight confusion. Anouk didn't respond right away as she found herself debating wether or not it'd be a good decision to admit that she was in a bad shape but she hadn't exactly been striding into the cave. He already knew the answer.

"My horse and I fell down a hillside." she started and tried not to think too much about the pain her companion went through out there without protection from the cold weather. Her answer should at least indicate that she was indeed hurt. She lowered her chin a bit and eased a tad closer to the flame, shoving the hunting knife in front of herself, still warning him. For a while, the girl kept silent and wasn't staring at him as much as she did in the start. The pain in her arm and leg was now replacing the adrenaline that slowly wearing off and her expression and breathing pattern changed despite her attempts at hiding it. "It was impossible to see the ground below. We fell down and I got caught underneath. He tried getting up but his leg was broken and I had to leave him. I regret that I didn't manage to end his suffering before I left him."
 
The sailor's attempt at lightening the mood fell flat.

And honestly, Yeshua was not surprised. From what he understood, men from the outside world seldom interacted with this part of the world. Teth being the notable exception for sods of his Captain's ilk. Thus, it was only right to be defensive. There was no way for the young woman to know that he truly came in peace. So, he would have to be intentional. After all, he couldn't wander off in the snow-blasted land and hope to find his crew without help.

Thus, he nodded when she answered his question. Her horse had fallen down a hillside, to which Yeshua's face winced. He could only imagine the tumble - let alone the risk of a large beast almost crushing her. As time went on, he could hear the change in her breathing. The puffs which escaped her lips changed pace. Yeshua recognized this as simple agony.

"I am sorry to hear about your horse." he began, before raising his hands once more to show that he was not a threat. "I mean you no harm. And I know navigating this land, storm or not, will be difficult in your state. May I help you?"

If nothing else, an olive branch had been extended. Whether it would be taken or burned remained to be seen.

 
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The native girl shot the man across from her a fierce look of hatered the second she sensed him raising his hand. «No! And if you move I’ll skin you alive you filthy pirate!» His offer to help was not at all welcomed. Anouk’s fear of his kin and awful pride wouldn’t allow her to rely on his assistance. Perhaps that was quite unfortunate as she started to feel dizzy right after she raised her voice at the man that only had offered to help.

Anouk shifted her position a bit but noticably swayed as she did. Now realizing that she might be more wounded than she thought, she began to panic. It appeared that she might be in need of his assistance after all but she would never admit it. Her vision got prickly as her heartbeat raised with the stress she felt about being weak in a strangers presence. Anouk blinked hard a few times as if to try and regain proper vision but to no use. «I…e…» the girl was clearly uncomfortable with the state she was in and when she failed at getting up, her eyes drifted over at Yeshua once more, only this time, her expression was filled with fear the moment before her eyes rolled back and she slowly slumped over to her side and fell unconscious.