Winter Wonderland }{ OPEN

[Elf Prince Tekkarro]

James was both taken aback by the man's honesty, and his sad story. He looked away, at the whirling white snow, slightly ashamed for being dishonest with this man. He picked up the pace, holding the buckets higher to avoid spilling. "I apologize for your loss...I have not been perfectly truthful with you either my friend." he stated, now walking ahead of the man. "You see, my Father was the of our fair city, but when he suddenly died and my brother went missing, I was the only one left, the prince who had to become . But...I oculd not handle it. I fled, bringing nothin with me but my clothing on my back and my father's sword." he explained, gently brushing the sword with his fingers while still gripping the bucket. "So as you can see, we both have reasons to hide our identities. You for fear of death, mine for the shame i owuld bring upon my father's memory."

[thanh]

Zhung looked over at the other man and said, "Thank you for your honesty, your majesty," an impish grin, grew on his face when he said 'your majesty'. He turned and looked into the distance as two wolves where just crossing the fields, painted in white. "I may try to hide my identity but unfortunately for me, the assassins who are hunting me, knows me, knows my face, knows my name, knows just about everything...They where once friends but now are to be killed in order for me to be free from running away. The only problem is with trying to fight them, is many of them are well trained Warriors, skilled fighters in both weapons and un-armed combat. We where taught in the arts that where known by the people of the village, who had learned from their hometowns. It was a mix of fighting styles." He looked up towards the skies and sighed as he walked back to the cabin with his second load of water.

[dark]

Akki trekked through the snow with a look of concentration on her face. Her eyes stared all around her as she went. Almost letting a shout of glee, she stopped and said to the empty space next to her," I spy with my little eyes...something white!" A grin spread on her face as thought that there was no way she would lose this time. It's snow....again...for the fiftieth time. Akki's mouth dropped in shock but she quickly recovered. A pout came onto her face as she said in an upset tone," I don't understand how you always get the answer right." Well I thought it was supposed to be an apple. You think everything is an apple! Tch. Who cares about an apple, why don't we just destroy something? You always want to destroy something. It is starting to give me a headache. At least I don't try to be a know it all.

Akki's head whipped this way and that as she tried to keep up with the conversation going about. A frown soon replaced the pout on her face as she got a little bit irritated. Why can't they ever just play I Spy without a fight? Deciding to tune them out, Akki continued on forward with no destination in mind. Akki soon started to rub her arms in hope for a bit more warmth. However, her eyes soon caught shape of a house a bit to her right. She wondered what lived in there. Perhaps three bears? Or even a nice old lady? Then suddenly a smile came on her her face. She will get her voices this time.

"I spy with my little eyes...something brown!" Akki said with childish delight. A bunny! Not again....

[Elf Prince Tekkarro]

James smirked at the mention of 'your majesty.' He rolled his eyes and continued trudging onward. "See? That is exactly why I left. It's too much responsibility, too much respect and dependance on you. MY father...now he was a great ..I could never live up to that..." he muttered, trailing off. He nodded at the man's reasoning and smiled again. "But it seems youa re doing well here, and certainly any assasins that may come for you here would not only have to search well, but they would also be in for quite a fight when they caught up to you." he encouraged, carrying his buckets into the house as well. He poured them into the barrel and nodded. "Well my friend, if you were to ever be in trouble, I am always at your disposal. Free of charge, of course." he joked, as he turned towards the window, looking out across the powdered fields. His eyes widened as he saw something strange. Another person, heading towards the cabin. He turned back and shouted, "It seems I'm not the only unexpected guest you are having tonight my friend."

[thanh]

Nhung grinned at the man's joke. He filled the second barrel, full and looked at the third one which was still empty. He came out of the cellar and looked at to where the man was looking out to. Another figure, human, possibly, wandering the cold tundra of the wintery west. He took a closer look, wondering if she might be a threat. He, personally saw no threat but had a distrust as usual. He went over to the clay pot and looked in. There was soup, but not enough to fill someone. He went down into the cellar with a metal cauldron, marked wwith a dragon on one side and a tiger on the other. He filled it a one 8ths full of water, came back up and placed the cauldron over the fire.

He turned to the man and said, "Might aswell prepare some more soup for the wanderer." He grabbed the same meat, vegetables and spices as he did for the man's soup and placed them in the soup which is just warming up.

"Deer meatseems common this season," He said to himself.

[dark]

Akki argued heatedly toward the space next to her. Why can't they just let her win I Spy once in a while? Huffing, Akki began walking even faster only to slip in the snow. She landed in the snow with a little squeak and filling the cold seep into her clothes. Now look at what you did. You are letting the cold in. Akki, dear, if you weren't so angry you wouldn't have ended up on the ground. She trembled from the cold as she pushed herself into a sitting position. Her eyes started to fill with tears and her lips began to quiver. You aren't going to cry are you? Suck it up and get to a warmer place. Don't be mean to her, she will only end up crying for hours on end. Upside down and turn around. Tears started to come out as she said," It wasn't my fault! All of you started...I just wanted to win." Hiccups soon escaped her mouth as she started to cry even harder. The dolls attached to her side soon had deep frowns.

Akki...look the house is right next to us. Why don't you get up and go there? Yeah show them what an idiot you rea---OW! Did you just bite me? Yum. Akki's crying didn't lessen at all, instead it only got a bit worse. While the house was right next to her, she didn't feel like getting up to look. After all, the voice were being quite mean and rude.

[Elf Prince Tekkarro]

James continued to watch the wanderer approach the cabin, and as she drew nearer he saw it was a rather small female, human, for the most part at least. A voice echoed quietly through his head. "I smell something...off about her." it snarleed, but James shook it away. She was tiny, what harm ccould she be? The stranger tripped in the snow, which James knew from experience was cold, but she began to burst out into tears! Embarassed for her, James threw on his cloak and quickly rushed out the door, as to not let any heat out. HE trudged next to her, studying her appearance. A strange one, he would admit, but who was he to judge? He approached her and knelt in the snow next to her, he extended a gloved hand and smiled kindly. "Excuse me miss, are you alright?" he said calmly, offering his assistance.

[thanh]

The silent sobbing of the seemingly young woman, out the door, he turned to see the man go outside to comfort her. He placed his wooden sthingy and went over. Around his waist just in case, was a Dao sword- A sword that looks similar to a scimitar, but it curves abit farther out, and it has a red cloth on it. He peered out the door to see if anyone else was out there. He then leaned over and said to the man, "You wouldn't mind serving her some warm soup, would you? I'm just going to see if there are any more lone wanderers out there. There seems to be alot, tonight.

In his other hand was a ring-shaped blade, with a crescent moon shaped blade in the middle which was attached to the handle. He walked out the door, with only the moon light to guide him. "Oh, and, if anything bad happens, burn the house and look for safety."

[dark]

Akki looked at the man through watery eyes. She slowly took his hand and got to her feet. Sniffling she said," No...They keep being mean to me." You snitch. I highly doubt that this will go well. Simple. Kill him. Akki looked at the other man come and the way he held himself. Her eyes caught hold of the sword that he seemed to keep his hand on. Did she do something wrong? The dolls at her side seemed to frown even more. Kill them both! That will get rid of the problem. There isn't a problem and killing isn't the answer to everything. Says you. Akki looked toward an empty space near her and a frown came on her face.

[Elf Prince Tekkarro]

James nodded towards the man's instructions. HE frowned at the final parting words of burning down shelter though. He shouted jokingly after him. "Of course, arson is a normal answer to your problems!" he laughed, turning back to the girl, helping her up to her feet. He grew pale at the way she said "they" and how she kept looking at the empty space beside her. He looked deep inside his own mind. "Gilashi? Is it more...demons? Like you?" he thought to himself, also communicating with what he referred to as 'his little burden.' A long silence echoed in his mind, much louder then any shriek or scream could have been at that moment. Finally he heard a sigh. "Too early to tell yet. But keep our distance, she reeks of something deadly...not as dangerous as I am mind you." he retorted, exiting with a laugh. James shook his head and brought himself back to the moment at hand. He smiled and took the girls hand. "Come on, let's get you warmed up. Maybe some food, would you like that?" he chuckled warmly, his eyes twinkling in the twilight.

[thanh]

Zhung trudged across the field of white powder, which sparkled in the moon light. A female voice spoke, in a tribal language, spoken to him during his journey, westward. First in a song, "immi daga uimpi geneta...." "I'm a good and pretty girl..." She stopped singing and with a small giggle she said in a sing-song voice... "A' maru cingeto. Tou trougo...." "Oh Great Warrior. Your unhappy." He looked around, thinking someone was there, but it was just a voice in his head. "Tou teuto...Tou ater marvos?" "Your people....Your father dead?" The memory of the priestess gave him chills down his spine. The last thing he remembered from her was "Your future is full of shadows, I can not fortell it..."

[dark]

Akki noticed at the way the man had acted when she spoke about her friends. She ignored it however and turned her attention of him holding her hand and offering food. Warm food did sound delicious and her voices agreed except they were wary as well. Akki gave a smile toward him and said excitedly," Yes! Food sounds yummy right now. Whats your name? Is it Snuggles?" She looked at him curiously then said in a happy type of tone," You know I had a doll named Snuggles. Sadly, he was chewed to death by a rabid dog. Oh but I'm sure that won't happen to you Snuggles!" How come I don't remember Snuggles? Because Snuggles actually got destroyed by fire not a rapid dog. Now I remember him. He deserved to get burned up anyways...took my half of the space. Akki ignored the voices and gave a encouragingly look toward Snuggles. She also couldn't help but have a happy spring in her step as she walked.

[Elf Prince Tekkarro]

James couldn't help but laugh and smile at the girl's care free spirit. He walked her to the cabin chucklign softly. "I'm James, but you can call me 'Snuggles' if you wish it." he replied, closing the door behind them, looking out the window looking fr his gracious host. He shook his head "Well let's hope nothing bad happens to me! I do not tink either of us owuld enjoy that!" he smiled, turning back towards her and grabbing a bowl from the table, slowly ladeling some stew into it. He quickly configured his fingers into a strange symbol and blew icy frost across the top, cooling it down while obtaining a sthingy for the girl. He gave both the stew and sthingy to her and smirked again. " Go ahead, eat as much as you like young one. I almost forgot, whats your name?"

[thanh]

Zhung walked on for a little while long, before reaching a road, He stopped, looked both ways and walked back. His hood was over his head and a thick cloth covered his mouth and nose. Despite all this clothing, the wind chill still managed to bite his face. The colour of the cloak was white. He stopped for abit, and looked around. Although he saw nothing, something was still out there. With no warning, something leaped from the shadows, letting out a shrilling screech as it did. Zhung was taken to the ground, although from the momentum, he managed to kick it off. He got up and faced a dark furred creature, it's eyes glowing red in the midnight. Zhung turned to his sword which was laying on the ground, a few meters from him. As he ran for the sword, the creature leaped for him again, in the direction he was running to.

About three quaters of an hour after he set out, blood dripped from both blades and dark blood stained his cloak, although, he still entered with a smile on his face- "We have more meat! We won't run out of meat for a while!" He exclaimed with great enthusiasm, as he dragged in the body of a dead creature in. He walked over to the cellar door, opened it and kicked the creature's body in. "I'll skin it later," He said.

[dark]

Akki accepted the stew graciously. She dipped the sthingy into the stew and brought it to underneath her nose. Smelling it and deciding i looked okay to eat, Akki hesitantly tasted the stew. Finding it delicious, she ate a bit faster only to stop when Snuggles asked her name. Smiling, she answered," My name is Akki!" She was about to continue to eat until she looked toward the empty space next to her. Akki stared at it for a while before turning her attention back to Snuggles. With a frown she added," And they are my mean friends. We can never play I Spy right because they always have to cheat or not let me win. I suggest we ignore them." With that Akki went back to the rest of her stew.

Her eyes snapped back up though when Snuggles friend had came back. The one that she thinks is mad at her. Akki watched as the dead creature got kicked into the cellar. Her head tilted slightly at the sight. Ignoring her own advice that she given earlier, Akki leaned closer to the empty space next to her and whispered," No, we can't do that. Snuggles is our friend and so is he." Pulling back, Akki continued to eat her stew while the voices in her head aren't exactly happy with her for disagreeing with them.