Stormsoul

[Qan]

When the rain had begun, Adari had paid little attention to it. She had simply pulled up her hood and made sure that her bags were tightly closed. Now that the light rain had become a full blown storm, however, she scolded herself for not having listened to the winds and taken shelter when she had still had a chance. She was far away from any settlement now, and there was no use going back. The road she traveled was long and empty of other travelers so late at night. If she did not find somewhere to stop soon, the steady rain would surely rust her weapon to pieces, and that would be a disaster.


Adari had fought hard to win that sword, and it was more or less the only thing of value that she owned. That and the horse that carried her. Technically, the horse was not even hers, and Adari still felt guilty about that.


The wind tugged at her sand-colored coat, pulling her hood off and exposing her head to the rain. Adari cursed and pulled it back, holding one hand steadily on her head to keep the hood still. The horse was remarkably calm, Adari noted, even when the first flash of lightning split the sky apart. The following thunder, however, scared the wits out of both the creature and Adari. The horse reared, and despite Adari's desperate attempts to hold on she was thrown out of the saddle and sent tumbling into the mud.


"No!" she called, as if the horse would listen. She could barely hear her own voice over the sound of the heavy rain, the howling wind and the thunder. Before Adari had even managed to scramble to her feet, the horse had left, running wildly into the darkness on the side of the road. Adari stood alone on the road, staring at it as it galloped away. It still had some of her luggage strapped on to the saddle.


It was not going to come back. The wind had pulled Adari's hood back again. Everything felt absolutely ... well, terrible. She wanted to cry with frustration, but somehow managed to refrain from doing so. Instead she let out a pathetic little whimper, then turned to look at the dark, muddy road around her. Her sword was lying there on the ground, neatly wrapped in a piece of cloth.


"Thank the gods", Adari breathed, and hurried to save her most treasured belonging from the mud. The strap that had attached the sword to her belt had been torn off, so she used some of the cloth that protected it to strap it to her back. Once it she had made sure it was not going to fall off, she began walking. After all, there was little else to do. She was not going to flee into the woods on the side of the road like her mount had, because she had heard tales about what might hide in there. A soft-hearted part of her hoped that the horse would survive in there on its own. The world was unstable now, or so the village council used to say back in her old home. There were wars coming, and strange beasts were awakening from their deep slumbers in the wild. It was the worst time for a young woman like herself to go travelling on her own, but Adari cared little for their warnings. She was beginning to wish that she had now, though.

 

[Syrrus]

Sothe had made himself a little tree-house in a nearby, fragile tree. It wasn't much of a house as it was made out of thick leaves, protecting him from the crying sky. He had tied the leafs together and gone to bed on a thick but old branch underneath them. His tail swaying back and fort below him. No one could call him stupid at least. Though one could wonder, the way he managed to sleep through the storm.


It wasn't til the load ear splitting thunder echoed through the sky that he woke up, screaming like a cat who's tail just been stomped on and jumping up into the air, destroying the home made roof and causing a flow of water hit him like a train from above. And as the water hit him he shouted out in surprise again, taking a tight grip of the branch with long claws from both hands and feet, the one coming up from his toes breaking his already patched shoes.


Sothe stared into the storm with wide eyes, standing completely still; not even breathing. It wasn't till he calmed down, and his tail just as well as his black hair stopped standing on edge, hell broke loose. As the young man had decided to give his attention to his fur, cleaning him the old fashioned way, tongue and all, he didn't quite realize what was coming at him in great speed. And it didn't help that his attention, as he slowly stopped grooming himself with a hand over his head caught up in the movement of cleaning his ear, he noticed a horse running by... with a saddle but no rider. “What in the...”


It was then hell hit him. Not the actually hell, but a panicked owl. It hit him straight in the face and made him fly down the tree with a shout and land upon a mud stained traveler.

 

[Qan]

The terrible sounds emerging from the forest made Adari's blood freeze. She quickly looked at to the side, where the forest abruptly began. It seemed the people caring for the road had tried to chop down the trees to make room for the trade route, but that they had somehow sneaked back, ready to close over the road again.


"Gods save me", Adari whispered. Was that her horse making those sounds? No, definitely not. That was some disturbed spirit, screeching and shouting. Something brought from the depths of the world itself, awakened in the storm by the horse that she had let run. Now, surely, it would go hunting, if the horse was not enough prey to please it. Adari's heart beat more rapidly, and her breathing became quicker. Calm down, she told herself. The elders were just trying to scare you with those stories. Arryn surely did not see a ghoul that night, that was just the boy's imagination. The gods wouldn't let you die like this.


Except maybe they would? Perhaps the gods were angry at her for defying her elders, her parents, and riding out alone, leaving them without a word. Surely they must be displeased with how she had stolen the horse, even if she had won the sword in a fair game. Adari suddenly felt a lot colder and a lot more alone. What had she done? She had snuck out in the dark of night, stolen a horse, and left her home as a thief and a liar. Now old Jarn's horse was probably dead, and she would never get the chance to return it to him. She felt tears welling up in her eyes, but forced them back. No warrior cried like that.


Well, now you're here, she thought. There are only two things to do. She could explore the noises, or she could keep walking through the storm. Adari looked up at the sky, which was just a big dark mess above her. Rain fell in her eyes and she blinked. She hoped for a sign from the gods to lead her, but got nothing.


Well, if they are displeased with me, she thought, the only way to regain their favor is to prove myself to them. She unstrapped the sword from her back, and brought it out of its wrappings. It was a simple sword, short enough for her to handle well. It was heavy, but Adari was strong. She looked at it. Then she looked at the sky again - or tried, but she had to squint because of the rain.


"I'm slaying this beast as an offering to you", she said to the gods, and then took off into the woods, completely defying her own survival instinct.

 

[Syrrus]

Slowly getting up from where he had landed, with a strong and wide male face palmed into the mud, he smiled helplessly. “I’m terribly sorry sir… I didn’t know you would be here in this particular pool of dirt and… rain… water…” He quiet down as the big stranger got up to his feet. The man looking a bit like a pirate the way he held that big sword, with his eye-patch and that painful looking scar.


The stranger seemed less pleased, and Sothe doubted he was a beast fan either. Slowly the young man started to walk backwards into the woods. “I am terribly, awfully... no! Dreadfully sorry about this, but don’t you worry, I am not going to leave you in the rain looking like that, I am just going to…. Run!!” And before the stranger knew it he had turned around and vanished into the forest.


After screaming loudly and running for what seemed his life, Sothe ended up running into another stranger, someone shouting something about an offering? “What!?” He shouted over thunder. Mud and water was pouring off him, making him looking almost as if someone had tried to drown him. “Was that your horse?!” He shouted again and threw himself up against a tree branch, sticking to it like a leech with his long claws, though the tree was not strong enough for his weight and he went falling back down into the mud with a splash. He then remembered that someone was out to get him. “Oh no! I completely forgot! There’s a beast hating pirate outside of this woods and he’s coming to kill me. You have to hide me!”

 

[Qan]

Adari had not been prepared to encounter the beast so soon. When the creature ran into her, she stumbled backwards and did not at all manage a good sword-fighting stance. She blinked rainwater out of her eyes and tried to gather herself as quickly as possible. She managed to just avoid slipping and falling in the mud, and steadied herself with some help from a nearby tree. Spreading her feet a little, she assumed a better stance for fighting, all fear becoming a faint background noise as she prepared. She was born to fight, and she would not die before she had the chance to do it properly!


Then the creature spoke. She had not expected that. If it would have spoken, she would rather it to have a booming, terrifying voice, or speak in tongues, or perhaps send curses over her. Such things were what you expected from monsters brought up from the depths of the world, not ... not "Was that your horse".


The battle focus faded as she saw the creature more clearly during another flash of lightning. For a brief second she gathered something that sure was beast-looking, at least somewhat. But it was also covered in mud, and looked a bit stressed. When it asked her to hide it, she opened her mouth a few times without managing any words. Then, finally, she said: "There's more forest all around to hide in."


It was dark enough. Adari lowered her sword, feeling very odd. This was not how she had imagined things at all.


"What are you? What is this pirate you talk about?" she asked suspiciously. She was sure the gods were playing tricks on her now. Silly, stupid tricks. She wondered if they were using her as a plaything now, laughing at her from the Otherworld. Adari pulled a hand over her short-cropped hair, thinking. Well, let them laugh.

 

[Syrrus]

“Me?” He said and pointed at himself with a long finger. It was hard to hear anything over the sound of the rain, but his ears was especially good at hearing, so he had little trouble, he just wasn't used to people wanting to know his name. Especially not if they owned a sword. “I'm Sothe.” He said, bowing his head nervously. He suddenly felt very, very filthy. His mother had taught him not to introduce himself to strangers with a dirty fur. It seemed rather silly at the current time, but once well mannered, always well mannered.


It seemed as if the pirate-looking man hadn't thought about following him this far into the woods, so maybe he had been lucky and maybe he was free to go where-ever he wanted for now. As long as he avoided the war and other form of battle.


“I can make us shelter!” He offered gently, giving her a fanged smile, his sharpest two teeth was too big for his mouth. “It wont take long. If you don't have anywhere to be?” He hope she didn't. Company, no matter stranger or not, was always better than being all alone in the cold woods a stormy night. He had already located some big enough leafs to make a roof out off and if this stranger could climb they'd be safe up in a tree, would someone come to get him. He tilted his head, and her probably, she looked a bit startled.

 

[Qan]

Adari found herself staring sheepishly at the creature. Sothe. Whatever. What was going on?


"Uh, I was on my way, actually ..." she began, then shook her head. "No. Were you the one who caused all that noise?" She had been on her way to face and battle a monster. If this was it, she really did not have anywhere to go for the very moment. She would only grow cold and sick, if not eaten by beasts, if she tried travelling any further in this weather. She was already cold, actually, and very tired.


The cloth that had previously enveloped her sword still hung over her shoulder. She grabbed it, and realized that it was soaking wet. All of her, and her few belongings, were soaking wet.


Adari looked down at the cloth that was draped on her chest, and then she looked back up at Sothe. "Please", she said, "that would be kind." She pulled the sword-cloth off herself, bundling it up in her hands and squeezing some of the water out of it. "I can barely see you in this weather, but I will trust that you're no monster."


Gods watch over me, she prayed silently. If he is, I am going to die like such a fool.


At least she would most likely not be found by her family, so they would not have to bear the shame. She wrapped the sword loosely in the damp cloth again, in a way that it would be ready to pull free from its makeshift sheath at any second.


"I'm Adari", she said, realizing she had not yet introduced herself back. "Adari, daughter of Zahrn and Vessa." She doubted family names mattered, but it felt too strange introducing herself without them. After all, it was the least of respect she could give her parents after having betrayed them like this.

 

[Syrrus]

Sothe had started to gather long and thick leafs which he was tying together with grass. He looked over at her from time to time through the rain, nodding. It took him a very long time to realize that this lady couldn’t see him as well as he could see her, in fact; she had to mention it for him to realize.


“Well you see… some would call me a monster, other stick with calling me beast.” He chuckled as he decided to make a shelter on the ground, this lady looked like a terrible climber, making sure to create the roof and walls before covering the floor as well as he could so they wouldn’t get flushed away. He then walked up to the lady again and grabbed her hand and lead her to the little house he had built with the green and strong leafs. He shuffled inside on his knees and decided to sit as far away as possible, which wasn’t too possible in a space as small as this. At least it was drier than being in the downfall outside.


Sothe decided that it was best if he said nothing more and let her do the talking. He then began to groom himself, trying his hardest to remove the mud from his face. He hated the taste of mud. It tasted a lot like dirt, just a lot more like water and less like something that would be considered dry.


Sothe wasn’t good at sitting in silence however, he ended up breaking his own promise as he scrubbed his ear with the back of his hand. “And yes, the noise was probably me. I didn’t hear anyone else out there screaming like a scared little kitten…” He pouted, clearly ashamed as his eyes hit the ground.

 

[Qan]

Adari strapped the sword to her belt again this time, where it would be easier to get it out if she needed to. She watched as Sothe assembled a shelter for them, thinking to herself that it probably would have been a good idea if she had been this prepared before she left her home. She knew how the basics of fighting with a short range of weapons, but she knew very little of survival outside civilization. Suddenly, she felt a little ashamed and foolish. It was good that she had run into this "monster", whether he was one or not. She still would not trust him, though, and as she entered the shelter she was relieved to see him sit down as far away from her as possible. Adari sat down, carefully so as to not accidentally destroy the shelter by nudging a carrying piece.


"I meant no offense", she said awkwardly. "I just - you seem a little different." Was he licking himself? He sure was not the most ordinary person she had ever met. As far as she knew, not that many of her own kind licked themselves. She was not all sure about other cultures or kinds of people, though. She would have to assume that this was normal behaviour for one of his kind, whatever it was.


"So you were hunted by some pirate fellow?" she asked, trying not to stare at Sothe. "Bandits?" She had heard of bandits roaming the trade routes, catching travellers unaware when the guards were not around to ward them off. She supposed a night like this one might be good - one just needed to hope that someone was foolish enough to venture outside and get caught in the storm, and then seek shelter in the woods. This Sothe, however, did not seem like such a criminal. She had heard of few criminals who built their victims a shed before killing them and stealing from them.

 

[Syrrus]

Sothe blinked a few times. She didn't know? He guessed most people didn't know about the war that had been going on between his own people and them who called themselves superior. He nodded though and stopped the whole cleaning-thing he was up to. “Most people wants to kill things like me. We're beasts. And we don't need weapons to kill a person.” Sothe smiled again, wider before realizing what he just had said and how bad it must have sounded.


“Not that I-- Hmh. I left my home to avoid the whole war-business that was going on. I don't like the idea of taking lives. And I thought talking to them who feared us would be a better start to a better life! Though... no one has listened so far... and I have ended up in enough fights to last a life time for trying.”


When it came down to it, trying to avoid fighting was harder than it sounded. Especially if you wanted to keep on breathing after the attempt of more a friendlier choice. He pouted and his ears fell down over his head, making him look extremely sad. For about a second until he looked up at her again, ears pointed and eyes big.


“What about you? What are you doing here and what are you?”

 

[Qan]

Adari grabbed the hilt of her sword tightly. Should she be killing him? No, her people had no quarrels with anyone else. She did not, although she supposed she should? The greatest conflict she had faced so far was when some brat from the village close by had tried to steal some of her wares at the midway market, and she had thouroghly beat him up for that. She had not even thought about what it might be like to take a life. She had somehow assumed that it would just not be so much of a problem, but it dawned on her now that it might be less pleasant than the legends revealed.


When Sothe asked her about herself, she blushed, and hoped the darkness would hide it. "I, uh, I actually left home to ... serve in the army." She did not necessarily wish to be in a war. She only wished to fight. "I mean, I only want to train, really, not, you know, go out and kill things. Not yet, I mean -"


She stumbled on her words, and eventually fell silent again, after realizing that she had no way of saving herself from the awkward situation. So she dropped it, and instead answered the last question: "I'm human. From a village to the west of here - quite far to the west. I was on my way to the nearest city, to see if I could get a job as a guard or something."


Gods help her, why had she been born with a soft heart and a love for fighting? She would have to fix this if she was ever to become a proper warrior.

 

[Syrrus]

Sothe nodded slowly. He didn’t seem to might that she had a heart for fighting. He pointed at a scar across his lips. “I know it’s small. But a race like mine don’t get scares like humans do. I was in the war for seventeen years. It looks worse on my other form.” He smirked and curled his arms around his knees. “It never ended though, you know? People just kept on dying and the one that survived felt bad…” He shivered and slammed his tail into a small puddle of mud by the wall, causing spatter to hit him in the eye.


He hissed and instinctively began to clean himself again. It was obvious he hated to be filthy. It was again his mother’s fault, the stupid woman and her habits. Not that there was anything wrong with him being clean, but it was rather difficult when the land around him was slowly turning into a swamp.


“So except being a human and wanting to die fighting, what else do you do in the forest in the middle of a storm? Hardly looking to sleep in a tree, though if you were I’ll show you the best way to make shelter on high ground.” He grinned from eye to eye again and scratched the back of his ear with a long claw.

 

[Qan]

Adari let her grip on the sword loosen a little. "Seventeen years? You're a veteran!" she said almost reverently. Then she blinked. What other form? She had heard about strange people from one of the border kingdoms, but she had thought the stories about them being shapeshifters had been pure lies, meant to scare the children. By the time stories got to her village, they had usually been so distorted from the truth that they were something else entirely than what they began as. At least so her mother had told her. Her mother had actually been to a few corners of the kingdom, and the cities, but she never spoke much of it.


"I was abandoned by my horse", Adari admitted with a shrug. "It was apparently not that fond of thunder. I guess I can't blame it for running away."


She made a grimace. "To be honest, it's probably heading home. It was, uh, borrowed, you see." That was true. She had taken the horse with the honest intention to return it as soon as she could. "I suppose I owe someone a great deal of money now, though." She would have to hope to find a job. Adari might have been reckless, but she was not dishonourable after all. She would pay the horse's owner back for having misplaced his property.

 

[Syrrus]

“Did I say seventeen? I meant seventy.” Sothe said as he started to dig around in his ear with one finger. It was itching something awful, he just hoped it wasn't because of the mud, if he got an infection because of some unclean water getting inside of his ears he would become very, very annoyed. “Yeah, seventy. I am an adult now. It's difficult to keep up with time sometimes.” He chuckled.


“The horse left you? Hmh. I never trusted horses, or other animals for that matter. They are so dumb! No... no offense of course. If you're a animal person and all that...” Sothe blushed, staring into the ground, nervously. It was difficult talking to humans, or to anyone that wasn't from his own home. Most people took his behavior as an insult, others as a death threat. He never wanted to get off by the wrong paw and often ended up being worried or nervous, especially when he had to handle any form of confrontation.


“And I'm sorry that I can't help you. I never needed any form of money before. Your gold and trinkets confuses me a fair bit! Back at my place we usually take what we need to survive, we hunt together of course, some pray can be rather tricky for some beasts... depending on their form. My father was horrible with fishing, but mother who was an eagle-woman was really good at it! Quite impressive really.”

 

[Qan]

Adari stared. She had just turned eighteen. She must have missed some of the stories about these strange outsiders. She shook her head slowly. Was he saying he was not an animal person? She did not see much of him in the dark, but she was pretty sure he had a tail. And perhaps fur. It all seemed very ironic to Adari.


"I, um", she began, but really got no further. When he mentioned his mother being an eagle she had to really fight to keep herself from laughing nervously.


"I'm sorry, what other forms? I'm afraid all the people I know only have one form, and that's ... well, people-form. Human-form." Adari thought about it. Her own "form" was nothing special. Darkskinned and with black hair that grew obnoxiously large unless she kept it short-cut, high cheekbones inherited from her mother, and a flat nose that looked a lot like her father's. If this creature had an eagle-mother, why were there no feathers on him? Perhaps she just could not see them. She was more curious than suspicious towards this Sothe now, and felt a little like a child listening to the stories some of the travelling merchants used to tell. It was almost as unbelievable to her, what Sothe was telling her, as the stories the merchants brought. It would seem she knew less of the world than she had anticipated.

 

[Syrrus]

Sothe continued to look at her with a smile, it took hm an embarrassingly long time before he realized that she had no idea what he was or what he was even talking about. He then scratched the back of his head, nervously. Wishing he had taught more about leaving his homeland, maybe trying to talk to humans about not killing his kind was going to be really hard if they didn't know what 'his kind' was.


“Well you see. We are all beast people. We have two forms. One which is our beast-form and one which is our human-form. This is my human-form. My mother was a eagle-woman and my father was a cat-man. I am a white tiger. The mutation is different every time and has nothing to do with our parents. Some is blessed with wings and others with paws!” He chuckled and tilted his head, waiting nervously for her to respond. “We hunt and fight in our beast-form and we socialize and mate in our human-form. It's all quite simple.”


Sothe scratched the back of his ear again. This time waiting a bit longer for the lady to respond before he starting another topic. He realized he had been rude, being the one talking the most. But it was lonely being stuck in a tree with nothing but an owl to talk to, and the owl hadn't been all that nice.

 

[Qan]

White tiger. Yes, that would explain the ears, the tail ... still not the Eagle mother, but Adari guessed some things were just different without an explanation. When she listened to his description of hos people, she could not help but smile.


"That sounds rather nice", she said. She imagined what it might be like to have a winged second form, or one that could breathe under water. No wonder she had heard such strange tales of some bordering kingdoms, of this was actually the kind of creatures living there. It suddenly seemed a lot more interesting to Adari than her own kingdom, even though she had barely seen any of it.


She leaned back, steadying herself on her elbow. She was beginning to feel strangely comfortable in Sothe's presence; he seemed nice, and cautious.


"So, were you going somewhere special?" She asked, "Or are you just hiding from people who wish to kill you?"


She would have to keep travelling as soon as the storm had passed and she had gotten some rest, but now that she had found company she found that dhe was already reluctant to leave him. Adari had not realized just how lonely she had felt until now. After all, she was not used to being all on her own. Perhaps she could keep her company for the journey, unless his head was too wanted by the road guardsmen.

 

[Syrrus]

“It is pretty nice isn't it?” He smiled kindly at her with fangs and all, curling arms around his knees. He had to admit that he felt a bit home sick, he hadn't seen his family or almost twenty years. Somethings was just hard to think about, which was why he never taught about his family that much. Missing people was hard, especially people you love.


“I didn't intend on hiding from them who wants me dead, it just happened.” He shrugged and quickly scratched himself behind the ear again, he tended to do that when he spoke about people killing him. Maybe it was a nervous habit? Something he did without thinking to protect himself from the idea of having to fight back, maybe. He snickered to himself and shook his head. “I actually intended to travel around and try to stop the silly war that has been going on between my people and yours.” He tilted his head, peering at her with green round eyes. “But it just ended up in more fighting, so I've been hiding here til I can come up with something better. It can usually take a while, but it only took me seventy years to figure this plan out! I'm sure I can do it during half that time.”

 

[Qan]

"Beats running into them, I suppose", Adari said with a shrug. "I have never heard of a soldier trying to stop a war, though." Her eyes suddenly widened in excitement as she realized something. "Oh!" she exclaimed, nearly jumping to her feet but stopping herself just before she was about to break the roof of the shelter. She crouched down again, trying to contain her excitement. "Do you know how to fight with a sword?" She looked at Sothe with eyes that were far too excited to seem adult, she knew, no matter how much she tried to seem calm and composed. "You fought in this war for seventy years, yes?"


She had no problem being taught by the enemy. The bigger problem was whether or not he would want to teach her. "I promise I won't use the skills for warfare!" she added. "I only want to learn how to be good with a sword, or a spear, or even a mace or a staff-"


She cut herself off, snapping her mouth shut. That was enough childish talking for tonight. Adari crossed her legs and took a deep breath, waiting for some kind of response from Sothe. All she wanted to do was to learn how to fight. She was already good, but there was only so much you could learn with some childhood friends and a stick to help you. She had sparred with Arryn, and the other more adventurous young people from her home village, but she had beaten them all eventually. She knew fighting properly would be much more difficult than the games she had played with them, and she knew that it was the only thing that she really felt like she was made to do in her life.

 

[Syrrus]

Sothe moved away from the overly excited woman, slightly terrified of her eyes which he had no idea could stretch that far. Maybe it wasn't even far, but in the dark it looked rather scary. “Are you telling me you want to fight in a war without knowing any type of style of which you can fight this war in?” He asked her slowly, blinking nervously. He doubted that she had no fighting skills, no one would jump up on a horse and ride into no where, hoping for a place in a war and now know how to use a sword, mace or even an axe! Not that Sothe knew how to use either of those, but he was a beast, he didn't need to know how to use human made weapons.


“And I'm sorry. I don't have any first hand experience using any type of smith-weapons. I do know how to avoid getting hit though, I suppose... But that includes having four limbs. I could always try and teach you anyway. At least that would give you experience in how to slay my kind...” Not that she ever would be able to, could she not use weapons made for humans. He smirked slightly. It was rather cute that she thought fighting to be a good idea with so little experience. Maybe she had great strategy skills? Those were always highly needed in battle.

 

[Qan]

"No!" Adari shook her head wildly. "I mean, yes, er ... I just want to learn how to fight good. There doesn't need to be a war for it. Preferably not, I suppose, I could just as well become a guardswoman, or maybe a knight or a duelist."


She shrunk down a little when he said he had no skills in using weapons. That was a disappointment, but Adari stayed positive. His offer to try to teach her something was good enough. "I will repay you well, sir Sothe", she said honestly. "My parents did not raise me to be ungrateful, I always repay a debt or favor."


She sat quiet for a while, hoping that she had not scared him off by seeming so eager to fight. The rain seemed to be slowing down a little outside, by the sound of it. Adari sighed. "Ever since I picked up a stick and played knight as a child I have known what I needed to do with my life. I don't care much for great wars, but the fighting ...! I always admired the few swordsmen who travelled by the village, and even the road guardsmen in their half rusted chainmail. I know there is money out there for someone skilled in the art of battle, so I figured ... why not go for it?"


Why not? Probably because it was an utterly insane idea to do it the way she had. With minimal experience and nobody to help her along the way. She had trusted the gods completely to deliver her safely to her destiny, somehow, and for the first time in a long while she was starting to suspect that maybe they were not so cross with her after all. Perhaps they had sent that thunder so that her horse would run off and she would meet this Sothe.

 

[Syrrus]

“Oooh! That makes sense. I like that a lot better, stick with that!” Sothe said, smiling at her. That she wanted to be a strong warrior for the sake of it made more sense to him than doing it to join a war. To be a warrior would not only bring yourself a great pride but also great joy! To be able to wind any battle and get all the females was great for your confidence. Though she might not have been in to it for that exact reason...


“I'll teach you all I can, as soon as it starts raining. IF.” He pointed at her with one claw, smirking at her as his stomach did the talking, growling like a lion on it's very own. “You buy me dinner. Hunting and eating fresh meat has it's charm, but after eating at a inn once I have started to get a real itch for that weird dish that look a lot like a puddle of messy rice with squashed berries on top.”

 

[Qan]

"You mean rice porridge?" Adari thought about it. She probably hade a few coins left in her pockets, enough to buy herself a few meager meals, or a slightly fancier for Sothe. Surely, it would be the cheapest training she would get access to. She smiled. "It's a deal." She would have to get a job soon so that she could feed herself.


"Can you go into towns without getting killed?" she asked Sothe. "I mean, if you ate that dish at a human inn I suppose you have some way of keeping a low profile, if others are so eager to kill you."


Adari peeked outside. The rain was light now, but the ground had turned to a swamp in some places. She grimaced. She would have to travel by foot in this, and the road would be little better than the forest in terms of swamp-likeness. When I do get money, she thought, I'm going to get my own horse. After repaying all of her debts, at least. She was grateful Sothe was so easily paid - she felt like mabe the price was a little cheap, but then she did not know how much he had to teach her yet either.