Challenges

[WolfEnchantress]

Scream? She thought. When did I-Oh yeah. That animal that came here before. She hadn't realized she'd been so loud when the thing had startled her

"There was an animal. A thing...It startled me, is all." She explained, holding back the emotion that threatened to seep into her words, if just barely. She studied len, who seemed to be having a very difficult time speaking. She empathized. She had to force words from her throat, like they were stuck.

As embarrassed as she was, he seemed to be faring worse. A tear slid down his face, and he asked if she thought she was a peeping tom before sitting on the soaking wet ground. She'd never heard the term, but could make a fairly accurate guess as to what it meant. He seemed to be on the verge of breaking. She fought the urge to cover her face with her cloak and never come out. Sarora had taught her not to be a victim of overpowering human emotions, so she'd try to be reasonable.

Hesitantly she took a few steps closer, couching so she was on his level. "You said you came because you heard my scream," She said. She hoped he was being truthful-he looked like he was. She took a deep breath before continuing. Feeling her burning face, she was glad for the shadows over her face that the cloak provided.
"Didn't we just have a conversation about trusting each other? If you say you came because you herd me scream, then I'll believe you. It was an accident, one that was my fault."

[Omio]

Len sighed once again - partially in relief. Quite a chunk of weight was off his shoulders. "Thank you... ...Saira." He still didn't look over to her, though; knowing the steps she took were hesitant ones by the slow pace of them. His blush was toning down a bit, and his crying halted. "Yeah, I came in response to your scream... I actually only thought you were making an attempt to draw water for your canteen - not expecting this at all; which explains why I fell out of the tree."

And the blushing picked up slightly once more, more out of admitting clumsiness this time. He hadn't seen the fact Saira was dressed, and probably wouldn't for some while - unless he bothered to make mention of it. "Y-you might want to go dress, by the way - I don't think you'd want to walk nude in the forest." He took to a stand, half-smiling. He paused before saying something else. "I have to hand it, though - you have good lungs. Keep 'em in good shape; they serve you a lot of use."

...Thank the GODS I was seen as just... ...I hope it doesn't turn around, either...

[WolfEnchantress]

Saira stood. "I am dressed," She told him, redness toning down a bit, but still unable to meet his eye, even if he was looking her way. Though I suppose it would be a good idea to refill he canteens." She sighed, leaning on a tree, still feeling a bit awkward. She half-smiled about his comment.
"When you live on a snow-covered ridge, you don't have to be quiet," She said. "And I spent a fair amount of time yelling."

"Are you hurt?" She asked finaly, attempting to veer the subject of conversation away from the current topic. "You said you fell from a tree. Why were you in a tree?" She'd fallen from a tree once and nearly broken an arm. She studied him. He seemed perfectly fine. At least, she couldn't tell if aything was broken by the way he stood. She glanced away again, taking another breath, her redness only just visible. Enough to throw back the hood of her cloak, which she hated having up.

[Omio]

That was when he showed his other nifty skill - he jumped up, about 5½ feet, to get up to a branch, hanging from it for a second while turning his head to face Saira. "Faster up there than down here. But... you mean to say you were dressed the whole time we talked?" He remained hanging, seeing that her attention was off of him. It was still strange to see someone jump quite like that.

[WolfEnchantress]

She watched, staggered, as he leapt over her head and clung to a branch. Blinking in surprise she experimentally did her own junp, but didn't even come close to reaching any branches on any trees.

"How did you learn to do a thing like that?" She asked, curious. "I dont have many specail skills. Obviously I speak to dragons, but hat's not so great when you were raised by one." She took a few steps back towards their campsite-it was geting late. She indicated that he should follow, in the trees or out of them. "Other than being able to take down almost anyone bare-handed, I'm pretty much not extraorinary at anything."

She spoke a bit quiter on his next question. "Of course...I dressed when I saw you." The blush came back, but not as it had been before. "And definentaly before approaching you." She managed a half smile.

[Omio]

"Comes from my family." And he swung himself, soon landing on the ground somewhat easily. "Not too tricky, really, just have to work on your legs, practice, and know how to do it. As to your combat abilities, you surpass me by far; I can tell that already." He dashed over to Saira, somewhat behind, and somewhat smiling. "You probably run better than I do, too... Definately in better shape for travelling than I'm in." Maybe I should do some physical training at the ridge, get myself better...

[HoudiniDerek]

Kimara woke early the next morning. Sleep did not come as readily as it had when the body and mind were younger. Odd that as a child you felt no desire to sleep and as an aged soul, you had the same lack of desire to sleep. Kimara shook the grizzled mane and got up. Sarora was snoozing too, but the dragon was ever alert, Kimara knew.

Kimara got some of the rainwater from the night before that had collected in a basin and washed up. Then, Kimara began to cook and that seemed to stir Sarora.

"Good morning, Sarora. Sleep well?" Kimara grinned happily at the dragon, knowing that she had probably had nightmares about Saira and her new companion. "?"

[WolfEnchantress]

Sarora had slept horribly. She kept dreaming awful dreams that, now, strangely, she could not remember. She shook her head, clearing her mind.

I am, Sarora replied to Kimara's question, But I fear I could eat much more than you cook. The dragon grinned sheepishly; she'd not eaten a large meal for a long time. Ususally she gorged on elk or moose about once a month, and then she could satisfy herself with smaller meals the rest of the time. I will hunt, and bring back what is left, She told Kimara, not sure how much food he had brought. With a nod, she leapt into the air and out of the tree grove before flaring her wings to find food, being careful to go the opposite way Saira and whoever was with her had gone.

**
"You have to be fit when you live on Ularian Ridge. It's hard wading through snow up past your waist," She said, easily remembering how impossible it was to chase a rabbit through the snow.
That night, when Saira and Len had goten back, she crawled back into their cave and tried to sleep. But, despite her exhaustion, sleep didn't come. With the silence night brought, the absence of Sarora's mind seemed to be the only thing she could focus on, and it gave her a raging headache. By morning she'd given up trying to sleep and was outside, leaning against a tree and letting her mind wander, willing the ache in her temples to go away and idly contemplating how far they'd go that day.

[Omio]

Len, too, had some trouble sleeping, though when he did drop off into sleep, he was almost like a dead log. Only the light of morning, when it came, would wake him. When he awoke, however, he wasn't one for getting up slowly. No, he had to absolutely jump from his sleep, almost. From sleeping to standing and fully awake in less than a second. Then he saw Saira, with (a hand to her head and) a pair of bags under her eyes. "I hope this will be a good morning. The weather not only looks, but smells like such; but you, Saira, don't appear to be in such a good shape."

[WolfEnchantress]

Sarora returned some time later, fully satisfied and her mood brighter from being able to fly. It had taken her mind off of ill subjects. Instead of dropping back into the copse of trees, she cupped her wings and drifted lightly the rest of the way, landing delacately.
There is a large stag for food just outside of these trees. I have frozen it, it won't spoil quickly, She informed Kimara. Dragonice was extremely cold, and took much, much longer to melt than did regular ice, and was as difficult for non-dragons to break. She could get it out well enough though when the time came.
I did not know if we would need it or not.

**

She glanced up at Len's words. He was awake. No, more than awake- he seemed to be quite energetic for just waking up. She stood, cringing a bit, and smiled.
"I'm fine," She told him. "Had some trouble sleeping, is all." She tried to make herself look as energetic as he did, wondering how it was even possible, but did manage to look awake and ready to go, ignoring the dull throbbing in her head as best she could.
"When should we head out?" She asked. The sooner they got going, the faster they would get there. "Oh, wait..I can go find something to cook first, if you'd like." She wasn't herself, but she'd willingly go out and hunt for fruits or other morning foods.

[Omio]

He saw through her attempt to look chipper, though he knew better than to challenge it head-on. Then there was the suggestion of hunting. "We will hunt along our way, leaving now." And he re-packed his vials, packing up his bag and other accessories before waiting for Saira. However, he had one thing to talk about. "By the way, since I have two clean knifes, and one poisoned dirk, and you have one clean dirk, do you want to poison the blade of your dirk, and take a knife from me? It helps out a lot in a defensive scuffle. That, and I have no need of two clean knives."

Why do people hide their true feelings when there is a bond of trust?

[WolfEnchantress]

Saira knew he saw through her facade, and did feel a bit bad, but she didn't want to slow either of them down, be the weak link of the two.

She gathered her cloak and checked that everything was in the pockets, and that nothing had fallen out, which wasn't much. She hadn't really thought about bringing supplies when she left.
When they had set off, she took out her dirk, running her finger over the metal. "Sure," She said finally," But what if I get cut with it when it's poisoned?" It had happened a few times before, and with a poisoned blade it would be a lethal mistake. "I guess I would just have to be more careful." She handed the dirk over handle-first to be poisoned.

"I wonder what I'm supposed to do when I get to Orlin," She said. "And will you be safe? You said the authorities don't much care for you in town. Will they know you there?"

[Omio]

He then took out a vial from the crib on his belt, pausing to put a couple of drops on the blade of it, though only on one side. It slightly coloured the metal a bit blu-ish, which helped one tell an edge was poisoned. "Trust me, I'm a lot better at secrecy than you think - I've been 'inexistant' a few dozen times before. As to the dirk, just watch which edge you have to cut yourself with." And he tossed the dirk up, catching it by the faces of the blade, not cutting himself. "Besides, unless you're inexperienced with dirks, you din't have to worry about cutting yourself." And he handed her another knife - a clean one. "Later on, I might give you lessons with a knife." His skill was apparent when he flipped it.

"I might join you on your way back, though - I've been finding nothing but common ingredients, though useful ones." Pfft, I haven't found anything worth putting in a vial for a while before taking it elsewhere and either digging up info, or finding a good source of it and experimenting to find out the features of it. And then he smelt something. It wasn't right. He abruptly stopped, taking a whiff before realizing what it was. "Dammit, a gas trap's been triggered!" And then he unbunched his main mask, tossing it to Saira. "It's sleeping gas... just wear this and keep..." Out. Good thing he was in the lead.

((G'night, Len. Tell me how the sleep is later on, Mm'kay?))

[WolfEnchantress]

She nodded. It was apparent even by the way he handled it that he was quite skilled with a knife.
Then he stopped, and she stopped a bit behind him.
"A what?" She asked as she caught what he tossed to her, but he dropped to the ground. Alarmed, she put on the mask like he told her to and knelt by him. Good, he was alive. But he'd said a gas trap had been triggered. Didn't take much to realise what it was and did.
And where there was any kind of trap, there was usuall people to see what tripped said trap.

How do I get us out of here? She thought. She couldn't very well lift him. A thought struck her, and without much more thought she flung off her sky-blue cloak, laying it on the ground and gently moving it onto it. From there, it could function as a sled.
Quickly but gently she tugged the mkeshift sled down the smoothest path she could find for about forty feet before sneaking behind a cluster of thick pine trees. It provided good cover from the way they had just come. She then peered around the trees.

She was right about her assumption. Two men were carefully checking the area they were just in. Both had swords, but neither had them drawn. They were dressed in furs of hgh quality and leather, which puzzled her, but there wasn't time to think about it. They had to go.

Subconciously, her mind switched itself. Her breathing was more even, and quieter. Her steps made almost no noise on the ground, and her movements more fluid. In a half-minute, she was not five feet away from the first and he didn't know it. She held the knife between her teeth and, quickly, twisted the person's head so she heard the snap that she was expecting. He dropped with a gurgled cry. The other swung around, and she was on him with the knife even as he made a wild slash with the sword. He slumed at her feet, and she hurried back to Len, her only injuries a fairly deep cut that ran almost horizontally from her neck to her shoulder and a similar one to her arm. She didn't count the one on her left cheek, it was little more than a scratch. She slid the knife into the same sheath that held her Dirk, which she just then remembered she ould have used, and probably not have gotten injured at all. Then again, she didn't want to have to use the poisn unless she had to, which may very well happen if len didn't wake.

"Len!" She said, as loud as she dared. Where there was two, there would be more. Digging into the pocket of her cloak, she pulled out a vial of oil that was meant to wake people up. It was scented so strongly that, if she didn't have the mask on, she'd have had to cover her face. It was a battle between the oil and the gas-whichever was stronger. She un-stoppered it and waved it in fornt of him, at the same time wiping the blood from her neck with her shirt, but probably only smearing it with the blood already soakd into the collar.

"Len, come on, you have to get up now," She said again, more urgently as she heard more of the group find their dead companions. There sounded like more than two..a lot more, and with that many she couldn't move any farther out of the way of their sight.

[Omio]

He managed to a half-awake state, then realized the conflict of the gasses, soon covering his nose and mouth with his hood by coiling it around. His body seemed to recover from there. Then his sense kicked in, as he shifted to get his backpack open and get his other gas mask on. Once that was on, he took a second to breathe through that, his eyes going from half-open to fully open. "Take their attention. I'll use the branches to my advantage."

And he pulled a small pouch from his backpack, putting a bit of Firedust into it rather carefully. "If too many people get too close..." And then he handed the pouch to Saira. "...grab a pinch of this, and toss it at anyone getting too friendly. Don't watch the aftermath, and take anyone else out." And he sighed, getting to one foot and one knee. "...looks like this is going to turn messy." Not that I mind. Saira might. And then he stood, closing the Firedust pouch of his own before jumping up into the branches. Once he jumped up, he jumped among them in silence, waiting for the perfect moment to break the crowd.