In Times of Peace

[Deleted]

Alekay

---

Mel had spent the last hour curiously watching the Grounders train in camp. They were interesting, powerful. Their fight had a certain quality to it that she had not seen in the guards on the Ark. Then again up on the Ark fighting itself was rarely a fight for life. It was about overpowering people, but the actual killing was usually done in another way. And guards came in pairs. Jonai never worked alone, making it next to impossible to overpower the pair if you were alone. Those Grounders seemed very aware of the fact that people out there would not spare their life. As the time wore on the food was made ready.

Since Mel was injured she helped pass out the food to the people from the Ark, before she sat down. Some Grounders were mingling with the Arkers, she saw, sitting at the same tables, but keeping quiet as they ate, probably hating to sit in the dirt. Mel found herself with an impossible task once she sat down with her own food, the other people mostly done with eating already: One arm in a sling and meat on her plate did not mix. For a moment the dark haired woman looked at her food as if looks alone could cut it, but of course it couldn’t. Then she started to try and cut it one handed. Given how old the cutlery was, that was a very useless attempt. Finally she tried to just stab it, frustrated. Looked like she’d have no food today. Mel huffed in annoyance.

[Alekay]

Alekay wasn't entirely sure how he felt about this . . . mingling and training together. But alas, he was not one to engage in it with a sour attitude. He found himself smiling as he ridiculed a few of the Sky People, in a tongue that they would not understand of course. The couple others he was with seemed to find the mockery humorous and even engaged in it. They were taking a short break from training, and just observing. After all, should this alliance fall it would be helpful to know how they trained and fought. So Alekay was taking notes should they come in handy for the future. It seemed that apart from the basic hand to hand combat, these people used their guns -- a weapon that his kind would never touch. Spears, swords, daggers, and so on were acceptable. But guns? Absolutely not. Indra would not even allow them to touch it, which was something they had long known. Alekay could see the temptation, but had no desire to betray their culture with such magnitude.

Amidst his observations, he noticed a woman start to beat a piece of meat. She was rather beautiful for a Sky Person, and though Alekay noticed her injured arm, he couldn't help but chuckle at her failed attempt to do what she was trying to with the meat. The two others he was standing with followed his gaze as the Grounder continued to watch her. "I found my wife" he joked in their Native language with a chuckle and amused grin as he began to approach the woman. "It's dead," he said, clearly poking fun at her. "And stabbing it makes it any more dead." Sky People. And an interesting kind of people they were.

Tag amber2

[Deleted]

Mel didn’t expect anyone to take interest in her. The others had other things to observe, that much was clear and so she kept struggling with her food alone. What harm could it do, though, to go without food this one night? Not much, she suspected. There would be food in the morning and maybe someone willing to help her. What harm did it do to the others to just help her, damn it? They hadn’t gone blind all of a sudden – granted, some had gone blind during landing, she knew that, too, but they could see her, struggling with just a piece of meat. 

Mel jumped as she suddenly heard an unfamiliar voice. She looked around, surprised to see a Grounder, but she showed no fear or ill will towards him, because why should she? He was just human, like her, raised in a different culture, but that was it. And he was nice enough, she figured. He was probably attempting humor with her. And he was roughly the only person around who was even paying attention to her struggles. 

“I noticed that.” Mel pointed out. “Otherwise I’d make an even bigger fool out of myself by running after it unsuccessfully. Probably also falling face first into mud.” Mel smiled at that mental image, but it was true. She’d just helplessly run after it, just to give up eventually, because she could not even hope to catch it. “I can’t cut it with just one hand. And it’s a bit too big to eat in one piece… well I guess the bright side is, that it’s really dead and not running away.”

Alekay