[Bronze Wood] The Serpent and The Seer (Savitaire)

[Naeya]

A short, nervous giggle escaped Naeya's lips as Savitaire began to speak, eyes glancing at the ground in embarrassment. I wasn't staring, was I? Oh, Goddess... I hope I wasn't staring! Her cheeks reddened, and restless fingers began to untie and retie the lower half of her own blonde braid. She had suddenly become intently focused on the stray strands that threatened to escape the braid's neat confines. As the Dhani asked about her gnosis, however, she reluctantly raised her gaze to meet his. "I only saw glimpses," Naeya replied slowly, hesitant to delve into the details. "It was nothing 'bad,' per se. Just life, really." She had truthfully only scratched the surface of Savitaire's life. Sometimes her visions showed her one long moment from the past, but other times she only saw enough to give herself a very basic understanding of the other person's character - an understanding that was based purely on random and frequently unconnected experiences. She hoped to obtain mastery over her gift one day, but for now she would have to deal with its tendency to too-often control her. Ah, control. She fought a never-ending battle with her gnosis, control being the most desired prize. Naeya smiled wryly, a glint of amusement in her eyes indicating insider knowledge. "Can I control it?" she parroted back, placing unnecessary emphasis on the question's central word. "Savitaire, it is one of my deepest wishes to be able to control this... gift. I try my best, but Avalis only knows when or what I'll see." Her eyes grew hopeful. "I have faith that some of my sisters must be able to master it. I'd like to learn how to follow in their path." The Konti didn't actually know for certain that any member of her race could completely control the gnosis, but it was the one thought that kept her going when her Sight became unbearable. Savitaire continued to speak, this time of the fear he had allegedly seen in her eyes. An unusual combination of shame, sympathy, and self-righteousness materialized in Naeya's heart, tugging painfully at her chest. The Dhani's sadness and suffering was clear; she had not been the first person to offend him with her fear. An intense desire to comfort him welled up inside of her, though it was at odds with a certain defensiveness. To an extent, despite not saying it aloud, the Konti felt somewhat justified in her previous fear. She knew now that the man was an ally rather than an enemy, but he had to understand that any stranger in the woods - Dhani or not - was cause to be wary. The bitterness of her own justification didn't go down well, however. She didn't particularly enjoy thinking the worst of other people, and Savitaire's unceasing look of sorrow chastised her enough to stand and walk over to his side. Naeya dropped to her knees, and reached up with the intent of taking hold of his hand. A look of worry graced her pale face. "I am so sorry to have caused you this pain," she apologized. "I can't imagine how you must feel... I must assure you, though, that I do not fear you now. I know you mean me no harm, and I'm sure you have only the best of intentions." It was a poor apology, despite being well-meaning. Savitaire's sadness, no doubt, went deep. Too deep for her simple words to heal. After a moment of somber quiet, Naeya decided it was time to lighten the mood. She brushed off the Dhani's last question for the time being, and clambered to her feet after releasing his hand. Her composure was less melancholy, and she cheekily raised an eyebrow before speaking, "Tell you what. I'll prove it to you! Come, join me for a swim." Naeya grinned. "I wouldn't ask someone I was scared of to swim with me, you know." Flawed logic, but her point was (hopefully) still made. At that, the Konti bounced lightly on her toes in excitement. A few short strides took her to the water's edge, and she quickly slipped off her sandals. Before undressing, however, she glanced back at Savitaire and gave him a friendly glare. "Just please help me preserve a little modesty," she hinted, assuming he'd understand that she meant for him to avert his eyes.

[Savitaire]

Her concern eased the pain that had welled up, he hadn’t expected to be struck so unhappy by something he expected. When she touched him he was genuinely surprised, it was one thing to have some woman touch him to engage in a tryst, but a comforting gesture? He couldn’t recall the last time something like that happened and he felt oddly embarrassed. He hadn’t meant to be so clearly upset. When things were over with those few lovers he was always left alone, but to have someone worry he was upset was new to him. He was almost tempted to brush it off with some light quip and laughter, but that would be rude given her attempt to make him feel better. He honestly didn’t know what to say, then she moved away and started taking her clothes off to go for a swim. As he stood up and turned away she’d see a grin of forgiveness flashed before she couldn’t see his face.

“Something I’ll never quite understand…modesty. We are born with merely skin, but people act like it is shameful to walk around unclad. Perhaps you can explain why there is so much fuss given over something naturally gifted. Honestly, it would take more than bare skin to get me interested.”

Given how much time he spent out of clothes and clad in scales nudity wasn’t really a problem for him. Would her turn her down if more ended up being the result? No. However he neither thought about or even expected such to happen, what would be would be and he didn’t need to think on it. Eventually he shed his own clothing, true he didn’t need to, but wearing wet clothes was very uncomfortable. There was a hint of amusement he felt as he walked towards the water giving her no notice at all. If she had thought him lying, well, she’d see for herself. It was the bane of sapient kind to over complicate simple things, but when one spent more time living the cycle of life than amongst more complicated beings one tended to have simple views on some things. His mother had spent more time scaled and unclad to teach him, though grudgingly, the things he had needed to learn and he never learned the concepts that the majority of other races put emphasis on.

Clothes protected skin from hostile elements, were used to set ones self apart or to mark one as part of something, but to him that was where it should end. No clothing meant one didn’t have anything to hide, it laid everything bare and gave a clear picture if someone was healthy or not. It also showed the other they trusted them enough to be totally vulnerable. That was perhaps why clothing was used, to hide, to protect, but he wondered if things would be different if the rest of the known world shed such a foolish taboo. When he strode in to the chilled water it send his skin to prickling, he dove under the surface then stood up. It wasn’t very deep, just enough room to submerge, but not enough to hinder one from standing fully. The sun was a welcome warmth as it dried the droplets from his skin, life was so much less complicated as a snake.

[Naeya]

Naeya took a half chime longer than usual to undress. The heat and perspiration had caused her clothes, particularly her breeches, to stick to her skin, and it took several bizarre-looking jumps and wiggles before she was able to escape their confines completely. She prudently left her undergarments on, despite their minor discomfort, as she wasn't as ready as Savitaire to bare all to a stranger in the middle of a forest. That sounds like one of those terrible smutty stories that get spread around The Blue Bull, she mused, wrinkling her nose at the memory of Riverfall's most notorious tavern. As she dipped a toe into the cold water, Naeya glanced over at Savitaire's back and considered her response to his comments. She'd never thought of nudity from the perspective he suggested. "I don't believe that showing bare skin is shameful, like you've suggested," she began thoughtfully, slipping more fully into the stream. Naeya was ashamed of nothing in regard to her own appearance, except perhaps of her inability to stop her cheeks from reddening every time she became even remotely embarrassed. "I suppose I've just been raised differently than you. My mother always remained clothed around strangers, to the best of my knowledge." The Konti rolled onto her back and lay lightly the water, splashing her feet every so often to keep herself afloat. "Maybe I think of clothing as a safety net?" she questioned aloud. "As armour, or comfort. As a necessity too, of course, when the environment requires it." While she spoke, Savitaire dropped trow and walked brazenly towards the stream. Naeya's telltale blush materialized, and she immediately averted her eyes. "Or maybe I'm just shy!" she laughed self-deprecatingly, before disappearing underneath the shallow water. Though she loved to swim and could breathe freely underwater, Naeya's form was atrocious. Miniature waves sloshed in Savitaire's direction as she kicked clumsily in her efforts to push herself below the surface. Her arms were extended awkwardly out from her chest and then pulled back towards it, creating a repetitively ugly breaststroke. After spending close to two chimes performing this swim stroke just above the stream's muddy bottom, she finally emerged to face the Dhani once more. His lower half was now covered by water, which increased Naeya's personal comfort with the whole situation. The Konti pushed long wet hair out of her vision, and smoothed it carefully behind her ears. "How is-" Whatever prying question she'd been about to ask was immediately forgotten, however, as a cacophony of screeching birds burst from the trees. Naeya nearly jumped out of her skin at the unexpected flurry of activity. She sunk a little deeper into the water as her eyes peered warily at the trees surrounding the stream. "Uh... Savitaire?" she half-whispered. Ripples were created in the water as she edged closer to the Dhani. "What was that?"

[Savitaire]

By the time the water hit his waist he stopped, his grey eyes followed her silhouette as she moved around underneath the water. When she finally did come up she’d see him flash her a smirk “I don’t see what you could possibly be shy about, but then as you said we were raised differently.”

The sudden eruption from the trees made him turn, Naeya moving behind him merely made his job easier should a fight happen. It would take him thirty seconds to transform, something that was very inconvenient because at that moment a man emerged from the trees leering at them.

“Heh, looks like I interrupted something interestin.”

The man’s clothes were worn, his dirty brown hair unkept and other than the knife at his belt the Dhani didn’t think he carried anything that was more a threat. There was something odd however, he had a shimmer to his skin, that struck him as odd for he looked human. “I don’t have much of value, but my things are near the tree, take them and leave.”

“Hey Kirk, did ya find her?” A second man just as scruffy as the first came out behind the first, but this one was holding a crossbow. When he spotted Savitaire he pointed it at him grinning and showing off yellowed teeth. “Looks like ya did, but with company.”

The one called Kirk looked over at his companion then back at the two of them “Not interested in you or your stuff. Come out of the water slowly and my friend won’t kill ya, he’s a pretty good shot.”

Slowly so that Naeya could see she’d see his hand move behind him pointing down at the water. He wanted her to dive and swim, he’d follow if only to get in to deeper water to transform. These men were going to become corpses as soon as he caught them. One of them might follow, but then again they might not, he did have coin in his bag though he didn’t really place much value on it. It wasn’t like he couldn’t get more, money was a human thing that others adopted for it made trade easier, but coin wasn’t really necessary for survival.

OOC: Sorry for the wait, hope you don't mind what I did in the post.

[Naeya]

An uneasy chill rushed down Naeya's skin at the sight and sound of the first man emerging from behind a pair of trees. At the sight of the second, fear wrapped its dark cloak tightly around her heart and squeezed. She could feel her heart's pulse pounding in her ears, and every instinct screamed at her to run. Run. Run! RUN! But both she and her companion were stuck in the stream, and had nowhere to go. She stood, frozen and helpless, in the shallow water, feeling very much like a sitting duck or some doe-eyed prey waiting to be hunted down by a stronger, faster predator. Still, animals were not cruel. Animals killed to feed. They killed to defend. To survive. These men... they were not animals. No - they were far, far worse. The stranger with the crossbow, whose bolts Naeya could not take her eyes off of, was speaking, and she slowly came to realize he spoke of a "her." Her. Find her. Who was... They couldn't have meant... She felt her legs weaken in the water, and had to lightly and almost imperceptibly steady herself against Savitaire's back to keep herself from slipping. The man had meant Naeya. He had been following, nay, searching, for her. But... how? And more importantly, why? Though she couldn't answer, or even truly comprehend, her frightening question, she could immediately discern that these men had nothing but the worst of intentions. These were the people she'd been warned about. It was all so unlike her meeting with Savitaire. Savitaire. Thank Avalis she had met Savitaire. Her scared gaze moved from the crossbow to the Dhani's naked back, as if avoiding the faces of the two men would make them disappear. She stared hard, her fixed gaze practically burning a hole into her companion. As the brief exchange occurred, she focused all of her inner energy on calming her quickening breaths. When Kirk spoke, ordering them out of the water and promising not to kill them, Naeya's gift was awoken and she felt horribly repulsed. Layers upon layers were left unsaid, but she was not the least bit curious as to what he was leaving out. All she wanted at that moment was to be safely away from this place and these people. No small wish for a sitting duck. Out of the corner of her eye, Naeya spotted Savitaire's hand move to point down at the water beneath them. He couldn't be expecting her to swim for it, could he? The water was shallow, and she was not yet a quick swimmer. The fact that Kirk's companion had a crossbow and a "pretty good shot" also did not escape her attention. There was no possible way she would make it if they were determined, and she especially didn't want to leave her own companion behind. The men seemed ready and willing to kill him if something should go wrong, and she couldn't imagine being responsible for his death. Not wanting to anger the impatient men with weapons, she made a quick and potentially life-saving (or life-ending) decision. Naeya raised her shaking hands slowly into the air, indicating her compliance with Kirk's demand. Painfully aware of her scantily clad body, she began to push through the water and angled herself towards the pile of women's clothing that lay on the nearby shore. She had dropped her sheathed dagger by her clothes, and hoped she would be able to grab it before either of the men noticed. "Wh-what do you want with us?" It was a poor attempt at a distraction, but she hoped it might divert the attention from Savitaire to her. If anything, perhaps she could buy Savitaire more time to do whatever it was Dhanis did in situations like this. Having an oversized snake on her side had to count for something. Upon reaching the grass and the pile where her clothes, she dropped her hands and pretended to fumble getting herself out of the river. Where in Mizhar was that dagger! If she could just find it and grab it...

[Savitaire]

Both men watched her closely, every inch of her their eyes wandered over and the one with the crossbow licked his lips. Savitaire was inwardly cursing her stupidity as much as he was pleased with her bravery. They didn’t even seem to notice the change that was coming on the man, the study of an attractive, seemingly helpless and naked woman far more interesting than a man who had yet to move from the water. His lower half was the first to start morphing, inwardly he was grateful that just this once he hadn’t fallen else that would be disastrous. Black ink seemed to spread along his skin as silver and black scales rippled along his flesh, the black forming his unique markings. Within those precious thirty seconds, seemingly an eon to the Dhani, he transformed in to the creature that gave his race its name. While he wasn’t as fast as a viper he was still faster than a human as he moved out from the water using his arms to propel himself forward at the man with the crossbow. He didn’t dive towards his chest, he aimed for his legs, he gripped the man’s ankle jerking back causing him to slip and fall backwards. The bolt went flying straight up as the man instinctively pulled the trigger, but by then it was far too late.

Sheer muscle and overpowering strength coiled around the man swiftly tangling his legs as the sickening wet crunch of bone breaking ceased the man’s terrified screams. The other man at the same time had spun around and froze, terror in his eyes as his gaze met murderous ferocity. Their eyes met and that frozen look was all it took for a spare few seconds for Savitaire’s little talent to activate. A small burst of Djed was all it took to call to the man’s instincts to freeze still like a frightened rabbit as the Dhani hypnotized him. The instinct was present in all things that hesitation before fight or flee. Those few suggestion frozen seconds gave him time to attack, he grabbed him by the face the man’s blood curdling shriek ending with a wet snap as the Dhani ripped his head clean from his body blood splattering across his face and chest. He gave a satisfied hiss savoring the blood tainted air, the fear heat from the bodies only just starting to fade. Movement near him caused him to twist around his tongue flicking out as he saw the woman who moments before he struck to defend. The hunger for more blood almost overpowering the base desires that had thrust him in to a fight just moments before.

His long lower half merely coiled around him as he fought to gain stillness, his upper half turning to the direction of the broken corpses. Crimson splashes hardly able to be missed on the grey of his underbelly, but also on the bright silver scales. He looked nothing like the man he had been moments before teasing the woman who was across from him. He wondered if she realized they would have to dispose of the bodies, though he was thinking merely of eating them than bother with the hassle of burial. If they had anything valuable on their person he wasn’t above claiming it as his own, corpses needed no possessions. His tongue flicked out to lick the blood drying on his nose, the salty coppery life’s blood only making him that much more hungry. He always got this way after a fight, even when those few occasions there was no violence. Just the threat alone made him hungry, but in this case there was meat available that was cooling on the ground. Distasteful as it was, he preferred animals over humanoids, he wasn’t going to turn away something that would appease the furious beast that was his stomach.

“You sshould leave while I disposse of the bodiess…”

A serpent’s tongue made speaking different as the ‘s’ sounds were lengthened slightly. Still she would be able to understand him as he had spoken carefully, she wouldn’t like how he planned to dispose of the meat. To him even as a meal those men were of little value, would she turn out to be an enemy after what she had witnessed?

[Naeya]

Naeya tried desperately to ignore the burning gaze of the two men as deft fingers hunted for her coveted dagger. Petching breeches... petching sandals... scabbard! Her hand closed triumphantly around the dagger's cold handle, and she slid it carefully out of its casing. After clambering clumsily out of the stream with bits of dirt sticking to her wet feet, she did her best to suck up her courage. With her right hand wrapped underneath the handle and her thumb resting on top of her forefinger, she gripped the dagger tightly and tried to look intimidating. Semele give me strength. Ignoring the water that dripped from her hair and rolled down her face, she took several steps away from the stream, keeping her trembling knees bent and her chest facing her opponents. It took her a moment to realize the men had stopped paying attention to her efforts. Her prior knowledge of Savitaire's Dhani form did nothing to lessen the shock when she saw him: part man, part snake. She had never seen such a transformation before, and was beginning to wish she wasn't seeing it now. Black and silver scales spiralled down the lower half of his body, which had morphed from human legs to a snake tail. And his face. His face did not belong to the Savitaire she had been getting to know. It was far more serpentine, and completely alien. She watched, horrified, as the Dhani easily broke the bones and the life of the crossbow-carrying man. It was as though she was stuck in a nightmare. She wanted to look away, to run away, but her legs refused to move. When Savitaire turned on Kirk, the man who had been threatening her mere moments before, she felt the most inexplicable urge to warn him. She nearly cried out, "Run!" when the man didn't move from the Dhani's warpath, but instead it turned into a shrieking, "NO!" No. No. No no no no no. The words ran through her mind, over and over, though it was possible she was also repeating them aloud. Naeya barely noticed as warm liquid spattered thinly across her skin, too consumed with trying to understand the gruesome scene transpiring mere meters from where she was standing. Kirk, sans head, collapsed to the ground, but her mind couldn't comprehend what had happened. She stared at the body, unable to place it. It reminded her of a ragdoll from her childhood - the one Lurik had carelessly torn the head from. She had been so angry with him at the time. Green eyes moved from the lifeless body to Savitaire, slowly connecting the two figures. She was in such shock that she didn't realize her own life was potentially endangered from her proximity to the Dhani. Instead, she felt mesmerized by the flecks of red dotting his chest and scales. Red... So much red. Why was there so much red? Savitaire spoke, and she suddenly became aware that both she and the forest had been eerily silent for what seemed like hours. His thickly accented words were the key to unlocking her frozen mind and muscles, and the events that had occurred only moments before came flooding back to her with new understanding. The red was blood. And the men were dead. Naeya had seen death in the past, but never cold-blooded murder. What was worse, she belatedly realized that Savitaire seemed to be enjoying himself. Enjoying himself. How could she possibly have missed this in his Chavi? Without a word to the Dhani (she wouldn't have even known what to say), she swiftly knelt to gather her clothes, her scabbard, and her backpack in her dagger-less arm. She didn't know how Savitaire planned to dispose of the corpses; instead, she knew only that she wanted to be as far away from them as possible. Moving so hastily that she nicked herself lightly in her arm with the unsheathed dagger, she turned her back on the Dhani and rushed in the opposite direction, following the stream. After five chimes of stumbling and when she was certain Savitaire was no longer in sight, Naeya ducked several feet into the forest and dropped her things thoughtlessly near a bronze-barked tree. She was shivering in spite of the sun, which continued to warm the mid-summer's day. Even when she had pulled her rumpled clothes on and rolled down the hem of her breeches, the Konti still shook. Collapsing onto her knees, she cursed herself for not realizing that Savaitaire would tear those men to shreds. Guilt and regret coloured her emotions. She may have prevented her companion's death, but she felt entirely responsible for causing the death of two others. Yes, they had threatened her, but she'd expected the Dhani to simply scare them away. Not kill them. Naeya could feel tears about to fall, and buried her face in her hands. The droplets rolled down her cheeks and through her fingers, dripping one by one onto the grassy forest floor. A chime passed before she removed her hands. Having previously failed to notice the blood that streaked across her face like a tribal tattoo, the newly-wetted blood on her fingers came as a shock. Red... Her stomach turned, and she vomited squarely into the bushes.

[Savitaire]

He watched her go hissing a few curses, but her fear teased his tongue as he smell/tasted the air. The bodies could wait they would hardly go anywhere; he changed back to his human form closing his eyes. Once he was standing on two legs he washed in the water then dressed, though only for the time being, he still had to deal with the corpses. He could hear Naeya’s movement through the green; he followed after slowly to give her a few moments alone. When he did eventually find her he kept his distance, though not so far away she’d not be able to hear him speak. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

He wasn’t sorry about killing them, those men would have only done something worse to someone else or come back later and he might not have been with her then. “You know what kind of men they were, can you say that they would not have tried finding you again nor done something worse to another person? I am a predator, this is my territory, if you had been away or near they would still have died. I’m not going to lie about that, but I do hope you will not hold it against me for both protecting you and sparing others a fate you would have had were I not with you. My kind…are not soft and fluffy, you saw what was in my nature as well.”

He wondered if she saw what was within him and chose to ignore the ugliness he was perfectly suited for and capable of. Yes, he had enjoyed himself as only a predator can in the act of a successful kill, but he knew that she would not for her nature was not suited for violence. Their deaths had been far kinder than they would have been had he caught them without her. He had also taken them totally by surprise which had given him much better ease than had it been more planned. All he knew was that they had been hunting her like prey and relished whatever acts they had planned when they caught her. They had eyes like the ones who had tried to enslave him and it brought forth that deep hatred he had for beings like them. “I do not want you to fear me or hate me Naeya, I am…what I am, but I hate creatures like them.”

Whether she saw it or not it would be clear he had been at the mercy of such people in the past. He was not sorry he killed those men, but part of him regretted not having the ability to take his time hunting them. He wasn’t upset with her, her nature was just not one to easily accept violence, but he didn’t want her to fear him or treat him differently. He’d rather her get angry at him for his words than fear him.

[Naeya]

After relieving her stomach of its contents and dry-heaving from its emptiness, Naeya plucked a leaf from a low branch and wiped carefully around her mouth. She desperately wanted a drink of water, but she couldn't bear to give her position away to Savitaire just yet. If he was even looking for her. At this point, she half-wished he would leave her in the forest to find her own way home. Home. What a word it was to be able to cause both comfort and grief for a displaced traveller. Her tiny room in Syliras was hardly her true home, and she couldn't imagine finding the solace she sought in the Traveller's Row. No, she needed home. Placing the back of her hand to her lips, Naeya squeezed her eyes shut and willed the world to send her off to Riverfall. No such luck. Instead, a familiar but not-yet-wanted voice floated softly through the air and into her ears. The Dhani had found her. His words came from behind her kneeling back, though she couldn't tell where. She didn't bother to turn when he spoke, unable to muster the energy from her exhausted spirit and unwilling to acknowledge him just yet. She'd long since resigned herself to the fact that she was at his mercy should he decide to kill her too. Just like the men, she had no defense against his brutality and could only hope that her continuing ability to breathe meant he did not wish her harm. Naeya remained silent during his apology, staring down at her lap listlessly. It is not to me whom you owe an apology. But then, what was done was done. How does one apologize to the dead? Despite keeping her outward reaction minimal and giving no indicators that she acknowledged his presence, Naeya listened carefully to Savitaire's explanation. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for - some golden nugget to acceptably justify his actions, maybe? Something to say, "Hey, don't worry! Everything you saw had a stamp of approval from Avalis herself." Alternatively, she would also accept that it was all just a horrible, horrible dream. Surprisingly, some of her guilt started to deplete when he suggested he would have acted the same whether or not she had been there, until she remembered that the men had not been by the stream looking for him. They had been looking for her. If she had not been there, what reason would he have had for murder? She did, however, feel a little shamefaced for not being more grateful for her life. Like he said, he had protected her. Naeya at least owed him her thanks, though doubted he could ever earn her forgiveness. She slowly pushed herself up onto her feet and tried not to anger her stomach any further. Unfortunately, her efforts failed as she began to feel physically sickened once more when Savitaire came into view. With a thick swallow, Naeya tried to meet the Dhani's eyes. He seemed to be a stranger once more, standing a fair distance away from her. It was like they were meeting again, for the first time. At least he was back in his human form. She opened her mouth with the intent of speaking calmly, but her voice quivered and she soon felt her sense of self-control slipping. "Thank you for your protection." Her words were raspy from her sore throat, and had a ring of formality to them. "I have no doubt as to the intentions of those men, and I quite possibly owe you my life. Or at least my freedom." She paused, unsure she wanted to say what she had previously intended. Years spent growing up around Akalak honour, however, forced her to it. "If there is anything I can do to repay you, please. Just say the word. I- I have gold. I can give you mizas..." Naeya trailed off, and dropped her gaze to the ground. The more she avoided talking about her true feelings, the more her raw emotions of fear, anger, and guilt began to cluster and bubble for release. She could feel them inside her heart, threatening to explode from within. "I'm sorry, but I just don't understand..." Petch it. "No. Forget that. I'm not sorry. I'm a million things right now, Savitaire, but I'm not sorry." The thoughts she had collected in his absence began to spill out of her with no end in sight. "What you did back there was- well, it was terrifying! You ripped those men to shreds with no concern for their lives! You talk about protecting me and others like me, but that situation didn't call for murder. You just killed someone's son! Maybe someone's father, or... or brother!" At this, she pushed away thoughts of her own brother, long since deceased. "You say they came into your territory, but isn't it really Syliras' territory? It was not your place to deal justice. Is that not why Syliras has Knights? Is that not why it has laws and systems in place?" She would need water soon. Her throat was beginning to hurt from raising her voice for so long. And the blood... it was still there, on both her face and hands. Still, she was not yet finished. "How can you berate me for my apprehension and claim you don't want to be a source of fear, then act as you did? I don't know what that sort of people did to you in your past and I'm sorry if they hurt you, but to kill unnecessarily is... it's wrong, Savitaire." Naeya coughed and rubbed her throat, leaving behind a light trail of blood on her skin. "I might not understand the Dhani, but I do know that you aren't the sum of your racial instincts! You may be a snake, but you aren't an animal any more than I am. There is always a choice." She had intended to continue, but a second coughing fit racked her lungs and throat, stopping her from speaking.

[Savitaire]

“What did you think protecting someone entailed, inviting them to a warm fire and politely asking them if they want to slit our throats?” He leaned against a tree crossing his arms and looking at her. “Those men were filth and this is not the city, this is a forest. When filth come meaning harm to someone I promised to take care of while in my company I honor that, you’ll also kindly remember I did give the first one a chance to leave. Then the second one came and threatened my life with his over-sized stick shooter and I took offence. Ones who come in to my territory and threaten me die, but those men” His lip curled as he said that “were worse than common thieves, slavers deserve no mercy and I will happily send them off to whatever god they serve as the situation dictates.”

He pushed away from the tree closing the distance between them and getting close looking down at her. “Living is far harder when you know someone killed to save your life, but the guilt passes little rabbit. Call the Knights then when you get to the city, tell them what I did, tell them how those men died, I won’t lie. Just know this, you are under my protection till we part ways and until you leave the forest this is so. Be angry, rage at me, but do not blame me for keeping my word, you knew what I was woman and you chose to ignore that. I am only as human as I choose to be, most of the time this is so, but when there is an enemy before me that seeks to harm someone I have started to like I will kill to see they live. I did not want you to be stalked by those men later and be broken or far far worse, do you understand? There are worse things than death and at least they died quicker than I would have liked. Their death was necessary for let free another would have suffered, would you have been happy to know someone else would be stalked by those men?”

He stepped away from her shaking his head “Better I dispatch the trash than someone else suffer, I can live with myself for saving you, but seems to me you’d rather sob in the bushes than savor life. They knew the terror of their victims before they died and I am happy for that. I am also happy we are alive to savor the blessed sun and air. So if you choose to shiver before me like a doe about to have her throat cut so be it, but I am not sorry I killed those men.”

He then walked to the tree again and leaned back against it closing his eyes, he didn’t feel comfortable leaving her alone. “Make your choice what you want to do, but my suggestion is to find someone that will teach you to fight. Fumbling around for a dagger won’t save your life, you have hands, knees and will, tiny as you are if you know how you’d even make me hurt. You wouldn’t be a rabbit if you could fight properly.”