Hey, guys! Welcome back to Hear a Tale! Before we do anything else - review time!
Thanks so much to CitrusChickadee for reviewing! Alfyn and Ophilia are both total sweethearts and must be protected at all costs :) And yes, they are very cute together ;)
With that, on with the tale!
Relevant Events: None
15. Silence
H'aanit was accustomed to the relative silence of the forest. True, if one listened carefully, they would hear plenty of sounds amongst the trees, like birdsong, the rush of wind through the canopy, and the rustling of creatures prowling through the undergrowth, but the huntress hardly considered any of those sounds to be "noisy." They were the soft, muted melodies of nature, loud enough to notice, but quiet enough to allow passerby to remain comfortably within their own thoughts.
In other words, they were all the exact opposite of Cyrus Albright.
Originally, H'aanit would have considered Z'aanta to be the most talkative person she knew, but even her happy-go-lucky master could not hold a candle to Cyrus' propensity for unprompted, long-winded lectures. Truthfully, she wasn't even entirely sure if the professor was aware of it himself. When the man found a topic he knew a significant amount of information about (which happened incredibly often, as it turned out), he could ramble on and on about it ceaselessly, slipping into his own little world and hardly noticing the dulled expressions of those around him.
Not that H'aanit would ever begrudge him his passion, of course. In fact, she rather admired Cyrus' vast range of knowledge and skill with the spoken word, a skill the huntress considered herself to be relatively lacking in. Still, though the scholar's voice was not always loud, it could prove quite incessant, which did not exactly lend itself well to certain activities that required silence.
Such as hunting.
Cyrus was following H'aanit and Linde through the woods as they searched for game. Their band of travelers was too far away from the nearest town to reach it by nightfall, so they had been forced to make camp for the night - as a result, they needed to find food. H'aanit, of course, was the obvious best candidate for venturing into the trees and hunting down prey, but even with Linde by her side, she had agreed it would be best to bring along one of the others for extra protection.
As a result, Cyrus had ended up volunteering, citing his ability to provide firelight with a flick of the wrist in case they wound up stranded in the dark somehow, as well as his own personal interest in witnessing S'warkii's renowned hunting process firsthand. Inwardly, H'aanit hadn't been sure if that was really the best idea, but against her better judgment, she had agreed and allowed the professor to accompany her.
Ordinarily, the huntress bore no ill will towards her scholarly companion. Cyrus was a kind, genuine man, and the two of them got along quite well. As with the rest of the travelers in their group, H'aanit considered Cyrus a trusted friend, and she doubted she could ever bring herself to truly think poorly of him.
That being said, his constant talking was beginning to get on her nerves.
H'aanit was not even completely sure what the scholar was talking about anymore. She had removed her mind from their already one-sided conversation a while ago, choosing instead to focus on the ground and look for potential signs of deer or boar in the area. Cyrus had seemed plenty entertained with his own lecturing, so she hadn't felt it necessary to contribute much from her end, especially when she had a job to do.
To Cyrus' credit, he was keeping his voice just slightly above a whisper. That did, of course, contribute to H'aanit's complete detachment from whatever he was saying, but if nothing else, his toned-down volume made him less likely to scare off any animals, at least until they were close enough to alert the creatures anyway. Still, whatever he was doing didn't exactly make for the most ideal hunting environment. At this rate, even Linde looked as though she was getting annoyed.
Finally, the huntress decided that enough was enough.
"Cyrus," H'aanit said calmly, not letting any irritation slip into her tone as she addressed the professor without looking back at him, "as much as I wolde normally enjoyen thy lectures…perhaps now is the time to ben quiet?"
Cyrus blinked, jolted out of his reverie by the sound of H'aanit's voice. "Hm? Oh! Ah, sincerest apologies, H'aanit," he said with a sheepish smile. "I'm afraid I rather let my mind get away from me for a while…you see, I've been longing to travel outside of Atlasdam for quite some time now, and many things are still so fascinating to me! Even the ecosystem of flora and fauna in this forest is intriguing, you see, because - "
H'aanit stopped, turning around and fixing him with a flat stare. This time, Cyrus stayed grounded in reality, stopping in his tracks and letting his voice trail off. After a few moments, he awkwardly coughed into his fist.
"Er…right," he said meekly, though his crooked smile still remained. "The time to be quiet, of course. Which…means I should stop speaking now. Sincerest apologies, once again."
The huntress watched him for a few more moments, then sighed, her expression softening. "It is alright to ben excited," she said, "but thou dost not need to speaken. Here, standen still for a time. Clearen thy mind and simply try to listenen."
"I'm afraid I was never all that good at clearing my mind…" Cyrus admitted with a frown. "Too many thoughts, and all that…I suppose I could give it a try, however. Though, what exactly are we listening for?"
H'aanit smiled. "Everything. It is…not quite something I can explain to thee. Thou hast to finden the melody of the forest for thyself."
"The melody of the forest…?" the scholar repeated, glancing around the trees surrounding them. "Intriguing…I am still not entirely sure what you are referring to, but I certainly would like to learn! Ah…how does one go about listening for this 'melody,' would you say?"
"To starten, closen thine eyes," H'aanit instructed, motioning for Linde to stand guard as the huntress moved to stand across from Cyrus. "Letten thy thoughts and breathing quieten. Payen attention to the sounds around thee. What dost thou hear?"
Cyrus complied, shutting his eyes and taking a deep breath. "Alright, let us see…well, I hear your voice, of course, and…now my own voice, obviously. Er, I suppose that isn't really relevant though, is it?"
"It is not," H'aanit deadpanned, sharing a dull look with Linde. "Cyrus…try not to speaken. Taken note of the sounds thou hearest, but keepen them in thine own head, alright?"
"Very well…" For the first time since they had entered the forest, the scholar fell completely silent. He stood there with his eyes closed, fidgeting every once and a while, but overall making a valiant effort to stay still.
H'aanit smirked slightly. "Good," she said as she slowly began backing away, using her own voice to cover up the sound of her steps. "Now, listenen for the birdsong, the sounds of creatures in the trees and the undergrowth…feelen the wind on thy face and through thy hair…becomen one with the wild."
When H'aanit reached the spot where Linde was lounging while keeping an eye out for trouble, she leaned down to whisper softly to the snow leopard, "Watchen over him for a moment, Linde."
The leopard chuffed, rubbing her head against H'aanit's leg briefly before rising and padding a bit closer to Cyrus. The huntress smiled fondly, then vanished into the trees, her eyes fixed on a fresh set of deer tracks in the dirt.
By the time she returned, a deceased stag easily slung over her shoulder despite her lean frame, Cyrus was still standing with his eyes shut in the same position he had been in before, evidently unaware that she had even left. Linde sat by his side, watching, fixing him with a look that might have been a smirk if snow leopards had been capable of such expressions.
H'aanit chuckled lightly as she walked over to join them. "So, Cyrus…" she said, quietly so that she would not startle him, "...what dost thou thinken? Art thou able to hearen the song of the forest?"
"You know," Cyrus replied just as softly, his eyes still closed, "as a matter of fact, I think I am. I will admit, I was doubting it all for a time, but…I do believe I feel much more at peace than I did before. It is an interesting sort of paradox…this 'song of the forest' you speak of seems to be characterized just as much by the sounds I cannot hear as it is by those that I can. Civilization makes so much noise merely by existing, with its crowds, its people conversing, its carts and wagons rattling through…there is none of that here. The wind and the woodland creatures make noise of their own, of course, but otherwise, I must say that the forest possesses its own special kind of silence."
"That is a very wise observation, Professor," H'aanit said genuinely, with a slight smile. "Truly, I am impressed that thou couldst learnen so quickly."
"Ah, well, I suppose I would not be a scholar if I couldn't," Cyrus said sheepishly, finally opening his eyes. His gaze instantly snapped towards the stag, difficult to miss as it was, and he blinked several times in utter shock. "...where…did that come from, exactly…?"
The huntress reached over with her free hand and patted the professor on the shoulder, smiling innocently. "Doe not concernen thyself with it. Now…letten us rejoinen our other companions." Without waiting for a response, she adjusted the deer on her shoulder and walked off, leaving Cyrus gaping after her.
He blinked a few more times, then looked down at Linde, still sitting beside him. "What…just happened?" he asked blankly.
The snow leopard offered no response, save for a light huff as she stood, stretched, and padded off after her mistress. Cyrus stood there for several more seconds, eyebrows furrowed, before he finally began to follow them.
"I can't help but feel," he mumbled to himself, "as though I've just been made a fool of somehow…"
See you guys next time for Tale 16: Questioning!