60th day of the Ashan season, arc 710
Arwel was already feeling more at peace on that morning, looking at the sun rising from the room he’d rented upon his arrival. The minute the temperature was warmer, he’d be camping outside rather than renting a room, wanting to save his money wherever he could. Especially since he didn’t really have a stable job providing him with any income, he wanted to avoid spending where he could. He took time to clean himself up a bit in his room before leaving it and heading outside. He’d had to do his meditative stretching, as he called it, indoors for the last two seasons, so now that it was finally warmer, he had been heading out into the forest for his daily stretches instead, letting the peaceful sounds of nature surround him. Of course, being a practical man, he never went without his sword at the least, knowing that predators as well as peaceful animals lived in the forest and it’d be foolish to be unarmed. He dipped his head to the man who ran the inn as he headed outside, walking a fair distance into the forest until all he could hear was the forest. Then he stopped and stood with the base of his big toes touching, his heels slightly apart so that his second toes were parallel. He carefully lifted and spread his toes and the balls of his feet, laying them down softly on the earthy ground. He rocked carefully back and forth, side to side, gradually reducing his swaying to a standstill until his weight was balanced evenly on his feet. He could feel his thigh muscles grow more taut as he lifted his knees, doing his best to not harden the muscles in his lower belly in the process. He could remember when he first tried this move, and how hard it had been, how he’d lost his balance and how he’d berated himself on how he could mess up such an easy move. The mountain, as he called it, led to several other positions, so mastering it had been important to him. As he turned his upper thighs slightly inward, lifting his hips towards his navel, he imagined a line of energy connecting upwards through his core as he hung his arms beside his torso, hands open, body relaxed. He held this position for a few moments before shifting into the next pose, bending his knees slightly, he lifted his left foot up, balancing on just his right, and crossed his left thigh over the right one. He pointed his left toes towards the floor, then carefully, slowly hooked the top of his foot behind his lower right calf, his balance wobbling a bit as it always did before he found his balance once more.
Moving his hands from their relaxed position beside him to stretch them straight forward, he spread his scapulas wide across the back of his torso. He crossed his arms in front of him so that his right arm was above his left, then bent his elbows. His right elbow was snug in the crook of his left as he rose his forearms, keeping them perpendicular to the floor so that the back of his hands were facing each other. He pressed his right hand right, and left hand left so that the palms of his hands were now facing one another instead of the backs. The thumb of his right hand was now in front of the little finger of the left, and he took a breath before pressing his palms together as best he could, then lifted his elbows up, stretching his fingers toward the ceiling, breathing in deeply as he found that center within him, holding the position for about half a minute before he slowly unwound his legs and arms until he was in his mountain pose. He inhaled deeply as he shifted his weight onto his right foot, lifting his left heel towards his left buttock as he bent his knee. He pressed the head of his right thigh bone back, deep into his hip joint as he pulled his knee up to keep his standing leg straight and strong, and hopefully he wouldn’t keel over like last time. He swooped his right hand behind his back to catch hold of his inner left foot, then he swept his left hand back to grab the outside of his left foot. It changed his balance more than the other way he could do this position, but it increased the lift of his chest and stretch of his shoulders, which was what he wanted to work on. His leg shook a little as he tried to maintain balance, the way he’d grabbed his foot had shifted his balance but he managed to hold it as he took a deep inhale and exhale before finally releasing his foot as he let it go back down to the floor, then moved to do the same thing with his other side, lifting his right foot up this time and grasping it, holding it for at least half a minute and releasing it again before going back to the Mountain pose. He was about to move onto a different pose, when he heard a weak mewl. He blinked and looked around, having closed his eyes while he stretched to let his senses wander, trying to identify the sound. He heard another mewl and he crouched low to the ground, his hand falling to the hilt of his sword, worried he had accidentally chosen a place too close to the den of a big cat. It was the third mewl that made him realize that perhaps the kitten was in trouble instead. It sounded rather weak, and a mother cat should have come along by now….right? He followed the sound eastward into the woods, and didn’t have to go far before he realized why no mother cat was answering the call. Someone had set up a trap and the mother had gotten killed by it not that far away from the nest. The kit, maybe a week old, was mewling for the mom it could smell from the little den, and the mewl was getting weaker each time. If he hadn’t come upon it and heard the kitten when he did, it's possible that it would have just starved and died all on it's own. He looked around, wondering if he should take the kit. He had just run away from home after years of abuse, could he take care of this kit? Or would it be a far kinder fate to just kill it now and end it's suffering? He bit his lip, staring at the kitten in the den, but after a few moments and another little mewl of hunger from the kitten, he reached in and picked it up. He couldn’t just leave the kitten to die. He wasn’t his father, willing to pass over and potentially put a child of any kind to death just because he wasn’t sure he wanted it or not. He found the kitten, so it was now his responsibility to raise it. He tucked the kitten into his cloak to try and keep it warm as he turned to head back to the inn. He could only hope that they had some milk for him to try and feed the little guy….or was it a girl? He’d check at the inn.
As he walked back through the forest, his sword at his side and his arm closer to the blade cupping the kitten beneath his cloak, leaving the other to draw the sword and defend himself if need be, he was shushing it softly as he could feel the needle like claws pricking into his hand. The poor thing was probably overwhelmed and terrified, but when he was back in the room he’d work more on getting it to trust him. Food usually helped animals like you, or at least that’s what he’d observed. Back at the inn, he asked for some milk of any kind and a spoon and moved to sit in the corner of the downstairs part of the inn, where people would come to drink, and set the kit down on the table to feed it. He wasn’t sure if this would work or not, but it was worth a try to feed the little kitten. He dipped the spoon into the milk, filling it only enough to be able to drop a few drops into the kitten's mouth and touched the spoon to the kittens maw, letting the moisture of the milk convince the kitten to open its mouth, where he carefully dripped a little bit of milk into it's mouth. He repeated this process a few times until the kitten seemed full, then took it upstairs, deciding to inspect it further when he was in his room once more. Back in his room, he carefully ran his fingers over the kitten, inspecting for wounds and any other sign that it might not be healthy. He also discovered during this inspection that it was a girl, not a guy. “I should probably name you, huh?” he murmured aloud, rubbing between the kitten’s ears lightly. “Hmm….maybe...Faroth? Wait no, that’s a boys name…Kitty? No, that’s just ridiculous...hmm...oh, I know. How about Serenity? I did find you while meditating, so it seems rather fitting.” Serenity mewed up at him and purred a little, getting settled on his lap. Clearly, the kitten had no real reason to be afraid of humans. He was expecting a lot more work to tame it, but then again if she was as young as he thought she was, then it was likely she’d never met a human before and thus could be easily tamed. Taming animals was something humans and human like races had done for centuries after all, how hard could it be? Okay, obviously pretty hard, that was a dumb mental question. He didn’t know anything about training animals, and he was pretty sure that the innkeeper wouldn’t be happy about a kitten peeing and pooping in their room. He’d probably end up leaving soon and spending nights out in the forest fairly close to Desnind. Close enough that it was less likely he’d be attacked by predators, but far enough away that he didn’t have to worry about anyone getting upset if his kitten peed somewhere. He’d have to see if there was a library, or perhaps some type of animal trainer that he could get advice from for training. This was just the first of many steps towards taming the Caracal as well as training it. He wasn’t sure yet if he was going to raise her until she was able to survive alone, then release her, or if he would keep her as a companion instead.
Moving his hands from their relaxed position beside him to stretch them straight forward, he spread his scapulas wide across the back of his torso. He crossed his arms in front of him so that his right arm was above his left, then bent his elbows. His right elbow was snug in the crook of his left as he rose his forearms, keeping them perpendicular to the floor so that the back of his hands were facing each other. He pressed his right hand right, and left hand left so that the palms of his hands were now facing one another instead of the backs. The thumb of his right hand was now in front of the little finger of the left, and he took a breath before pressing his palms together as best he could, then lifted his elbows up, stretching his fingers toward the ceiling, breathing in deeply as he found that center within him, holding the position for about half a minute before he slowly unwound his legs and arms until he was in his mountain pose. He inhaled deeply as he shifted his weight onto his right foot, lifting his left heel towards his left buttock as he bent his knee. He pressed the head of his right thigh bone back, deep into his hip joint as he pulled his knee up to keep his standing leg straight and strong, and hopefully he wouldn’t keel over like last time. He swooped his right hand behind his back to catch hold of his inner left foot, then he swept his left hand back to grab the outside of his left foot. It changed his balance more than the other way he could do this position, but it increased the lift of his chest and stretch of his shoulders, which was what he wanted to work on. His leg shook a little as he tried to maintain balance, the way he’d grabbed his foot had shifted his balance but he managed to hold it as he took a deep inhale and exhale before finally releasing his foot as he let it go back down to the floor, then moved to do the same thing with his other side, lifting his right foot up this time and grasping it, holding it for at least half a minute and releasing it again before going back to the Mountain pose. He was about to move onto a different pose, when he heard a weak mewl. He blinked and looked around, having closed his eyes while he stretched to let his senses wander, trying to identify the sound. He heard another mewl and he crouched low to the ground, his hand falling to the hilt of his sword, worried he had accidentally chosen a place too close to the den of a big cat. It was the third mewl that made him realize that perhaps the kitten was in trouble instead. It sounded rather weak, and a mother cat should have come along by now….right? He followed the sound eastward into the woods, and didn’t have to go far before he realized why no mother cat was answering the call. Someone had set up a trap and the mother had gotten killed by it not that far away from the nest. The kit, maybe a week old, was mewling for the mom it could smell from the little den, and the mewl was getting weaker each time. If he hadn’t come upon it and heard the kitten when he did, it's possible that it would have just starved and died all on it's own. He looked around, wondering if he should take the kit. He had just run away from home after years of abuse, could he take care of this kit? Or would it be a far kinder fate to just kill it now and end it's suffering? He bit his lip, staring at the kitten in the den, but after a few moments and another little mewl of hunger from the kitten, he reached in and picked it up. He couldn’t just leave the kitten to die. He wasn’t his father, willing to pass over and potentially put a child of any kind to death just because he wasn’t sure he wanted it or not. He found the kitten, so it was now his responsibility to raise it. He tucked the kitten into his cloak to try and keep it warm as he turned to head back to the inn. He could only hope that they had some milk for him to try and feed the little guy….or was it a girl? He’d check at the inn.
As he walked back through the forest, his sword at his side and his arm closer to the blade cupping the kitten beneath his cloak, leaving the other to draw the sword and defend himself if need be, he was shushing it softly as he could feel the needle like claws pricking into his hand. The poor thing was probably overwhelmed and terrified, but when he was back in the room he’d work more on getting it to trust him. Food usually helped animals like you, or at least that’s what he’d observed. Back at the inn, he asked for some milk of any kind and a spoon and moved to sit in the corner of the downstairs part of the inn, where people would come to drink, and set the kit down on the table to feed it. He wasn’t sure if this would work or not, but it was worth a try to feed the little kitten. He dipped the spoon into the milk, filling it only enough to be able to drop a few drops into the kitten's mouth and touched the spoon to the kittens maw, letting the moisture of the milk convince the kitten to open its mouth, where he carefully dripped a little bit of milk into it's mouth. He repeated this process a few times until the kitten seemed full, then took it upstairs, deciding to inspect it further when he was in his room once more. Back in his room, he carefully ran his fingers over the kitten, inspecting for wounds and any other sign that it might not be healthy. He also discovered during this inspection that it was a girl, not a guy. “I should probably name you, huh?” he murmured aloud, rubbing between the kitten’s ears lightly. “Hmm….maybe...Faroth? Wait no, that’s a boys name…Kitty? No, that’s just ridiculous...hmm...oh, I know. How about Serenity? I did find you while meditating, so it seems rather fitting.” Serenity mewed up at him and purred a little, getting settled on his lap. Clearly, the kitten had no real reason to be afraid of humans. He was expecting a lot more work to tame it, but then again if she was as young as he thought she was, then it was likely she’d never met a human before and thus could be easily tamed. Taming animals was something humans and human like races had done for centuries after all, how hard could it be? Okay, obviously pretty hard, that was a dumb mental question. He didn’t know anything about training animals, and he was pretty sure that the innkeeper wouldn’t be happy about a kitten peeing and pooping in their room. He’d probably end up leaving soon and spending nights out in the forest fairly close to Desnind. Close enough that it was less likely he’d be attacked by predators, but far enough away that he didn’t have to worry about anyone getting upset if his kitten peed somewhere. He’d have to see if there was a library, or perhaps some type of animal trainer that he could get advice from for training. This was just the first of many steps towards taming the Caracal as well as training it. He wasn’t sure yet if he was going to raise her until she was able to survive alone, then release her, or if he would keep her as a companion instead.