A Mirage Of Milk And Honey

Chapter 18 - Upeyan Ritual

The Brisk-Beak (Slashioraizar, not that Honey was going to attempt that) was a medium sized Oisia. Nocturnal. Fast. Nimble. Athletic. Agile. Talons the size of a human leg and laser accurate vision. Sharp strong beak and strong angular wings so deadly, a single hit could break all the bones in the human body.

This list of descriptions travelled through Honey's mind in a never ending cycle, reminding her what kind of monster it was the two of them were trekking through the Upeyan Jungle to capture.

The book Aedis had handed her the day before had seemed pretty on the outside, bound in white cloth with blue patterns depicting birds and plants all distinctly related to Upios. The inside, however, was filled with the images and descriptions of Upeyans particularly dangerous wildlife.

The pristine white pages went on to describe why, exactly, Brisk-Beaks were so deadly. Honey had thought that the reason for them being held in high regards was due to the predatory nature of the animals, but no.

Brisk-Beaks were intelligent. Scarily so.

It meant that they would be easy to train, but it also meant that they would need to want to be trained.

Taming a Brisk–Beak wasn't as straight–forward as simply breaking in a horse or tricking an Edge-Cutter.

There needed to be a bond. An understanding. A mutual respect.

It wasn't possible to capture a Brisk-Beak. One had to attract one. Bond with it. Honey had found that she'd have to appeal to the bird as much as possible, and nothing was more important to brisk beaks than frivolity. 

Which was how Honey found herself sitting in front of Aedis as he painted her face according to Upeyan tradition.

Honey had found that, for the people of Upios, it wasn't so much clothing that was important to traditions, but body paint. One didn't dress up using fancy fabrics, but more so intricate designs and such.

Honey looked down at the clothing she wore.

The top was interesting to say the least. It was made of two parts: an under-piece which consisted of thin black leather fabric. The main part was rectangular and only covered her chest. There were two pieces of string that went around and tied up at the back from either corner of the chest piece, and another two which simply went around the shoulders and tied at the back of the neck.

The small item was only truly there for propriety, and instead, Honey wore a beaded necklace of sorts. It began at the base of her neck, and was a pattern of colourful beads tightly woven together, which reached just above her breasts, before each piece of beaded string became its own and from it hung red, white, black and yellow feathers. Whenever she moved, the strings would shift with her.

As for the bottoms, Honey has a piece of fabric (Aedis had informed her was called a Ipaio) which acted as a skirt—wrapped around her bum and waist, and tied at the front, the item left much of her stomach exposed.

In front of her, Aedis was shirtless except for a necklace similar to Honeys. The main difference was the bulkiness that Aedis' had and the strings of beads Honeys sported. Instead of the hanging beads, Aedis' neckpiece ended in coloured feathers of white, red, black and yellow that popped against the blue, black, white and yellow beads which matched Honey's.

Unlike Honey, Aedis wore baggy trousers. The clothing was held around his waist by a red, black, blue and yellow belt of leather, but the rest of the fabric was baggy and airy until it met his ankles where it was once again together.

The two had certain items of jewellery decorating their being—armbands, rings, waist beads and the sort.

Honey personally thought that it was a lot of fuss for a bird.