Post by Shaa`mal on Jul 17, 2016 13:56:57 GMT -5
He'd awoken an hour before dawn, something about the cool morning air and the darkness before the light calmed the man. His tiny house, a loft-style studio, was comfortable and faced South in an attempt to limit the amount of light and heat. The cramped quarters somehow soothing and cozy despite his stocky frame.
With two cracks on the frame of the sink and a sudden sizzle as his breakfast began to cook, Shaa`mal would sit down on the counter and gaze out the window. A cup of water (he drank nothing else, if he could help it) held forgotten in his hands. The sea was just there beyond the rows of shacks and huts, past the market. An endless expanse of blue and green and white, not unlike a wet version of the desert that sprawled a half mile behind him. Both heaving titans alive with their own fury and rolling waves.
He sniffed the air and decided his food was ready, two eggs and a wedge of cheese. The only breakfast he'd eaten in the last fourteen months, creating a routine to occupy his mind and better help him to split his thoughts between the mundane and the complex. A form of meditation, if you will. With it he'd gotten himself into a semi-permeable state of ever calm. His goal was to always be at a neutral state and in this trance he began to ponder on his latest job.
It would be the first island Shaa`mal visited after leaving Aria. All of the contracts he'd ever accepted were local and while it may have spanned the entirety of the desert, Shaa`mal had never had reason to take to any true body of water or wander further than the shoreline.
The current contract was received via flying post, mail-carrier pigeons flocking to the local bounty officer with the same warrant tied to each leg. The warrant stressed that the nature of the quest was not one of all encompassing seriousness but that discretion and priority were of the utmost importance. Shaa`mal was eager to leave the safety of familiar territory and had accepted the hunt with the goal of going over the finer details en-route.
He knew but three things off hand from his skimming.
The notes were amusing to Shaa`mal and his goal of bettering himself and figuring out his lot in life had to start somewhere, so why not here.
He left just as the Sun cleared the land from the East, wanting to set out before the heat of the sun became something staggering- as he knew not how hot or overbearing it became on open waters. He had booked travel on a small fishing vessel, one in which would capture cargo on the way and drop it off on a neighboring island. It would then do the same as it returned to Razorfinn Village, making money and sharing an economy between two islands.
His journey took only a few short days, three to be precise. On that third day, he was given a small raft and advised to approach the island from the West, this being the Torino Kingdom. The fisherman had jokingly warned him to avoid the 'big birds' and refused to relent to any questioning. Shaa`mal was familiar with avian species, however- his best friend and comrade, Y`zir, was an Osir roughly the size of a vulture and significantly more fierce.
" So friend, what now?" He asked as they drifted towards the island.
With two cracks on the frame of the sink and a sudden sizzle as his breakfast began to cook, Shaa`mal would sit down on the counter and gaze out the window. A cup of water (he drank nothing else, if he could help it) held forgotten in his hands. The sea was just there beyond the rows of shacks and huts, past the market. An endless expanse of blue and green and white, not unlike a wet version of the desert that sprawled a half mile behind him. Both heaving titans alive with their own fury and rolling waves.
He sniffed the air and decided his food was ready, two eggs and a wedge of cheese. The only breakfast he'd eaten in the last fourteen months, creating a routine to occupy his mind and better help him to split his thoughts between the mundane and the complex. A form of meditation, if you will. With it he'd gotten himself into a semi-permeable state of ever calm. His goal was to always be at a neutral state and in this trance he began to ponder on his latest job.
It would be the first island Shaa`mal visited after leaving Aria. All of the contracts he'd ever accepted were local and while it may have spanned the entirety of the desert, Shaa`mal had never had reason to take to any true body of water or wander further than the shoreline.
The current contract was received via flying post, mail-carrier pigeons flocking to the local bounty officer with the same warrant tied to each leg. The warrant stressed that the nature of the quest was not one of all encompassing seriousness but that discretion and priority were of the utmost importance. Shaa`mal was eager to leave the safety of familiar territory and had accepted the hunt with the goal of going over the finer details en-route.
He knew but three things off hand from his skimming.
The notes were amusing to Shaa`mal and his goal of bettering himself and figuring out his lot in life had to start somewhere, so why not here.
He left just as the Sun cleared the land from the East, wanting to set out before the heat of the sun became something staggering- as he knew not how hot or overbearing it became on open waters. He had booked travel on a small fishing vessel, one in which would capture cargo on the way and drop it off on a neighboring island. It would then do the same as it returned to Razorfinn Village, making money and sharing an economy between two islands.
His journey took only a few short days, three to be precise. On that third day, he was given a small raft and advised to approach the island from the West, this being the Torino Kingdom. The fisherman had jokingly warned him to avoid the 'big birds' and refused to relent to any questioning. Shaa`mal was familiar with avian species, however- his best friend and comrade, Y`zir, was an Osir roughly the size of a vulture and significantly more fierce.
" So friend, what now?" He asked as they drifted towards the island.