Closed An Irrefusable Offer (Senghor)

[Kaie]

6th of Spring, 514 AV
20th Bell


She'd been staring into the same tankard of half finished ale for some time. It had been the third she'd ordered that night in the Pig's Foot Tavern, and very contradictory to just about every evening before, she couldn't get past it for the life of her. The issue wasn't anything near being unable to hold her alcohol. Sobriety, she had decided upon her arrival, was just as much a plague to her as any disease in the wretched wasteland she'd been sent to. Drinking was the only thing that broke the shackles of her mind, where she was often tortured unrelentingly by her own cruel thoughts. However, lately there had been a certain restlessness within the Myrian female. It was in the rabid tapping of her right foot silently upon the floor, the way her amber eyes flickered about the crowded room in cold calculation. As much as she craved it, ale apparently would not rescue her this night.

After a chime of agonizing deliberation, Kaie did indeed slip from her stool at the bar and shove her way out into the night. Leth's glow was dismal at best, only half of his pale face on display against the stars for filthy onlookers down below. Akajia could wrap Sunberth in the thickest blanket of night and not even then would it be deemed beautiful. Always present was that foul smell like rotting flesh lingering in the air. She'd never be so numb to it like the locals no matter how many men of her own she had slain, that was certain.

Kaie drifted down the streets from the tavern, drawing her cloak hood up over her head to obscure her obviously foreign features that often made her a target. Unfortunately, as constantly alert as she was, the jungle woman did not distinguish the men following her several paces behind from the rest of the foot traffic. It was only when there was a break in the slim night-time foot traffic that their grouchy snickers became audible. For a moment the savage thought about whipping around to steal a cautious glance at her back, but doing so would've forced action from the other party. Instead she focused on the volume of their voices to judge their distance, all while her fingers danced their way down the hilt of her gladius hidden by her cloak. Like all egotistical males it didn't take them long to make themselves known to her.

"Oi, where do ya think yer goin', savage girl?"
"Aye, think we didn't see ya leavin' tha tavern did ya?"
"I dun know 'bout you, but I ain't ne'er had a Myrian before..."

Petch, Kaie thought wearily to herself, willing herself to continue walking rather than breaking her composure just yet. Three voices. At least three men. Three bastards whose throats I might have to cut in a tick before their blades find mine...and I know they'll take their time getting to that.

"Aw, come now! Dun be shy!"
Ye' dun be shy!"
"I saw yer face in tha Pig's Foot. Fine little heathen you are, I told 'em. So turn around and show them whatcha look like, tigress."

A few of them chuckled darkly and there was some rough shoving noises before their voices came again. This time they were too close for comfort and far less friendly than before.

"She thinks she's too good fer us, boys."
"Aye, better teach her different then. What do ya say?"
"I say petch her and the whole lotta them. Let 'em rot in the damned jungle with their Bitch Queen."

The bronzed woman stopped dead in her tracks, her slender silhouette as still as a statue in their path. She uttered not a phrase just then, but merely remained rooted in place as they approached. Even the men could sense something very different in the air.

"Oi, look a' that! What'sa matter, savage? We offend ya?"
"Aye, think ya pissed 'er off, Fen."
"That so? Which part? Your stupid, brown race rotting to shyke? Or that bit 'bout your Bitch Queen? I hear someone in Nyka's been fixin' to give 'er a second slit wit' 'is blade."

The cloak dropped from her shoulders in a flash, the metallic scream of an unsheathed gladius ringing through the blackness. The enraged Myrian turned then, her curly hair cascading wildly down her back, eyes gleaming with such a hatred potent enough to set the whole city ablaze. Her pink lips curled into a fearsome snarl and her fingers held a white knuckle grip around her blade. Her chest rose and fell beneath her leather vest rapidly. Shocked, the three took a defensive step back and drew their weapons. A dagger, a short sword, and a club. Their tick of surprised gasps quickly turned over to nervous, malignant laughter.

"There she is..."

"The Goddess Queen will take great satisfaction in your sacrifice," Kaie managed to snarl viciously before she sprung at them with a cry, body naturally falling into a predatory crouch as she closed in. The first to step forth was the short sword, who of course made sure he was the first to strike. With a grunt he jabbed the sword at the savage's middle but she was gone before the blade could pierce flesh. Instead she had danced off center, her gladius smashing like a club down upon the steel as if soared past her. Then came her roundhouse counter kick to the side of his knee, to which there came a loud pop and he reacted appropriately with a cry of agony. Before she could capitalize on his pain he had stumbled off to his buddies where the knife could come next.

The wielder was quick and proactive, already actively dicing madly before him to ward the rabid Myrian off. She wouldn't have that for very long. Decisively she lunged with the larger blade, hacking just as wildly at him as he had her. He narrowly managed to reeled away before any damage was done, providing just enough stimulation to distract Kaie from the blunt weapon that soon crashed into her free arm. "Dammit!" She lashed wildly in the club's direction, spewing Myrian obscenities of all kinds in her wake. The entirety of her upper left arm went numb from impact. Already came the dull pounding of her pulse against overridden nerves, the sole indication a nasty bruise was coming on. With both combatants actively advancing, Kaie had no choice but to begin retreating backward out of the street.

Two coming now, third still backed off. Need to buy time to deal with them individually. I'm not good enough with this thing to take them both on.

The clubbed man was the first to return again, but this time she was prepared. Just when he began to start a swing she rocketed her heel into his solar plexus. Wheezing, he backed off which earned her just enough time to deal with the knife-man. The second time around proved more interesting. While the club-man recovered, the two dashed at one another and retreated as they noticed the other make a move. Twice the small blade came close to gutting her on the spot, but agility and reflexes saved the Myrian. That is until suddenly the gladius flung from her tight grasp and clattered far from her reach, effectively disarming her.

He smirked murderously and jerked the knife at her, unaware to both parties he had inadvertently aided her by losing the clumsy weapon she lacked the skill to properly wield. Kaie stepped off center grasped the knife as it passed her with her right hand, the left bracing it not a moment later. Then she wrenched the wrist inward upon itself, forcibly relinquishing the knife to her own possession as he watched in horror. Following it came her foot to his crotch, doubling him over where she took the liberty of stabbing him repeatedly in the upper back. Blood retched from his lips and he dropped like a stone from her grasp, gurgling with wide eyes into the dirt.

"Enjoy rotting to shyke...Fen."The Myrian spat upon him and kicked him in the head in her juvenile moment of fury. Her gnosis burned like an ember stuck upon her skin, flaring with an intensity that engulfed her in indignant rage for the barbarian's blasphemy. Yet like all emblazoned emotions, the anger blinded her she failed to realize the two new men that joined their friends in their battle against the savage. They bull rushed her and she beat at them with her fists, blackening their eyes, cheeks, and ramming whatever extremity she could into their middles before the club finally found her again. It took the breath clean out of her lungs, shooting her backward without so much as a qualm. That's when the back of her head hit the wall of the building they had cornered her against, and everything turned to black.

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

It wasn't a short day and nobody would dare challenge that with Seng, since he'd woken at the first bell of morning he was constantly on his feet. His nature of work was truly a delicate one and it didn't hurt to blow off some steam with a couple of rounds at Tall Johnny's and the Pits. It seemed that most of his Spring was either spent there or amassed with work and fights, it didn't even hurt to say that he was a bit tender for a few rounds at Johnny's but it also didn't hurt to say that his opponent wouldn't recognize himself if he stared in the mirror again To the Pig's Foot : that had become their mantra it seemed as after every occasion 'they' would fill up the tavern and have the time of their lives, of which meant another brawl for the day. As the tired dark skinned warrior's hand reached for the tavern's doors, they creaked and groaned as they were opened. Fatigue seemed to play its role as he stepped aside for a bronze skinned figure who walked past, his eyes didn't given absorb the myrian's presence as she stepped out and he walked in. Brushing shoulders with a group of common thugs seemed to last of the mercenary, yet his ears picked up upon last of their conversation and wasn't something pleasing. 'Sick fucks...' Senghor thought as he seemed to slid into a seat, all his tighten muscle fibres relaxed in that one moment as he sighed heavily to himself, it didn't take long for a common face to fall into the pools of his gaze "Elisa, the usual!" he called over, a simple smile and nod was all he needed as he ran his fingers through the short strands of his finely cut hair. As his stubble began to itch it seemed that his attention was taken back to the woman that'd left the Pig's Foot when he entered, there was something about her, something familiar... "Where have I seen her before?" he asked himself as he inclined his head back towards the door, there was something... After a few chimes of sitting, contemplating and searching his memory banks Senghor came to a conclusion, and it wasn't a good one... "Shit!" the words tore from his throat as he kicked out his seat and bolted out the Pig's Foot. With footsteps wide and precise, the hulking figure of Senghor trailed down the streets of Sunberth to where he'd last seen the figures of disappeared too. It didn't take long for the sounds of a struggle to fill the air of Sunberth with their melodies, as Sengh turned back onward the street he could see it, a group of about four. Punching, Kicking, Spitting and a uttering nothing but the purest of bullshit to leave their leave their lips. "Fuckin' Myrians!" "Kill 'er, Kill 'er!" Kill, Kill, Kill... "So be it" 'it' spoke on the desert skinned mercenary's behalf, the restless beast that lingered within was needed this time and Senghor knew it. He called for it and deep within the very pits of his subconscious it welcomed call, his anger, his rage, his self. As if the very fabric of time had stopped itself from being sown Seng's movement from his initial point to where the group of thugs were attacking the myrian were seemed to slow for the mind to comprehend. As he moved something fell into his hand and was soon lounged deep within the skull of the first of four, with both hands upon the herald of death Senghor violently ripped out the axe that had fallen, from the still falling body of the would be rapist. His arms reared back and like a lumberjack the right side of the man to his left felt the sting of his wrath as the mercenary pushed it deeper into the man's side. The dying thug's comrades stopped their assault on the myrian and shifted their attention to Seng. "Wh... Wher' the fuck he come from!?" "Er dunno... Er don care, kill h'm too!" And so their dance began as Senghor's hands slipped from the battleaxe and his fists right quickly jabbing his face into the ground, as the somewhat already dead thug fell down with a thick suffocating thud onto the ground a boot kicked Senghor in the back and caused him to stubble forward. A compilation of fists and kicks befell onto the enraged warrior as he tried to regain his center, in a decisive turn Seng's abdomen was met with a flurry of uncoordinated punches and kicks. With his arms raised and his arms to protect himself from the violent attack. The air went thick with the steely stench of flesh as Senghor's bled from his full lips and ducked a soaring punch aiming for his cheek yet the foot upon his chest worked against him as it pushed him up onto the wall. As one fist came from his left he outstretched his right hand to swath the hand away, with his left leg kicked the abdomen and caused him to stagger back. Another came soaring in from the right yet Senghor stepped to the side and watched as it slipped away and the thug fall forward from the momentum that'd fell with his aggressive throw. The Brawler that was Senghor capitalized on the action and side step, with a rage-filled right hook that caused the trying-to-be rapist to rock off the side. With his feet on him Seng moved as one with the confused figure of the thug and his hand grasped the man's neck, it seemed that they were moving in a semicircle as Senghor collided the man's forehead into the brick wall, repeatedly... A force fell down onto Seng's back again as he too hit into the wall. It was the other rapist that he'd pushed back and this time he was armed. With the adrenaline that was coursing through his veins the stab wound from the man's knife upon his side was went unnoticed, whether by luck or fate it seemed that the blade missed vital organs yet he couldn't be sure at that moment. Turning around Senghor missed another attempt on his life as the swipe at his midsection instinctively caused him to move back, another two more steps back allowed him to raised his leg and feed the sole of his entire boot the man's face, a brogue kick to the thug pushed him well enough to knock all senses out of him as light became dark. Senghor turned to the sounds around him of groaning and soon silence, as he turned back to the woman. It was indeed who he though it was, it was the myrian that had saved his life, he had the honor of fighting side by side in the darkest of caves and still be living well enough to tell the tale, it was no other than the myrian, Kaie. A grunt escaped his lips as leaned over, she was still breathing yet he wasn't sure about her condition fully, he could estimate that she was out of it, unconscious probably. "Can't wake up without having to clean someone else's fuck up... he said softly as he touched his side and looked down at the girl and mustered whatever strength flowing in him to pick her up, it was than that the sting from the wound at his side sang as he took a step forward, he needed to be patched up and to have her bruises looked at, he'd have to take her to his cottage to do all those things. He'd have to get Noven or Kingston, the sods knew how to get things and currently that's what he needed. 'Getting fucked over because of some kid, I really shouldn't have stopped drinking...' thought Seng as he headed towards the Quarters...

[Kaie]

At first there was nothing, nothing but the blackness. Sometimes she heard voices of men. Grunts, cries, and shouts. Then nothing. It was as if someone had been drowning her in some sea of darkness, holding her under while she thrashed and struggled for the waking world. Once or twice she managed to burst upward ambitiously, managing but a few short, hazy ticks of consciousness. Then the hands came again and swept her beneath the water that felt neither hot nor cold. And still she struggled, struggled, struggled...until finally her tormentor could restrain her no longer.

The first sensation to reach her was heat. It lulled against her side constantly, beating a warm rhythm against her flesh. The next was agony, a dull throb about her torso, racing down one arm, but focusing like a tyrant upon her head. She winced gently and an irritated groan whispered through her lips. Slowly the fuzzy world faded into clarity as her lids fluttered open, amber irises brought to alertness. When her cogs within her head finally began to turn, her eyebrows lifted and a fresh rush of weakened adrenaline entered her veins.

Unfamiliar. Strange. All wrong.

The Myrian lurched carelessly from her place beside the gentle hearth. Immediately she regretted it. Every muscle shrieked its displeasure, head howling for mercy and for a moment she was sure she was about to retch. Only the shred of wits she still held about her kept her in a sitting position rather than searching for her feet. Bronzed fingers down across her body for her gladius, only to close emptily. The useless sheath jostled vacantly upon her hip.


"My gladius," Kaie gasped dumbly, glaring at the sheath and blinking hard as she tried to make sense of her new surroundings. Her skull seemed to vibrate like a sword clashing another blade of steel. Immediate recollection was all but possible.

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

His hands dipped onto the warmth of the water as his eyes gazed up into nothingness, with hand spun in a circular dance around the water and finally grasped onto the cloth that he'd dropped within, he raised it and heard as thread droplets of water fell into the large bowl causing it too ripple as steam rose from the crown of the water. He wrangled the cloth and expunged the cloth of most of the water seeping within, again he wrangled the cloth and the last of the water within fell into the warmth of the large bowl. Senghor sat there beside the bed and watched as daughter of Myri stirred in her slumber, his own wounds fresh as a Spring morning yet he focused his attention on her as he tended to himself. It didn't take long for the cloth to find a scrap and the venomous sting of herbal waters (which he'd acquired) and tender open flesh to kiss and caused the man to wince in pain. His stab wound had around been taken care of luckily it wasn't as bad as he'd perceived and he spent the last couple of bells playing doctor on his own body, his medical skills were horrid and nobody could dare deny it but everyone in Sunberth knew something, they were all gifted in repairing themselves whenever they'd screwed themselves over. And now there he was with the irony cloth of a bandage wrapped around him with great care and nurturing as jabs of pain often reminded him of the shit-job he'd done on himself. His desert eyes turned toward the girl and all he could see that she was no better - damn it was the caves again, but this time he was the one to remain conscious long enough to save her life, a debt repaid. Another sting of pain as he rubbed onto another little gash to deceive the pain, and than she awoke, too hurriedly, too protectively. He watched as her movements only inflicted more pain onto herself and he couldn't help himself but remember that he'd also done the same, albeit more dazed and confused, lost and seemingly guided by a fragmented mind. She spoke of her gladius and Senghor could only oblige her, "It's in the kitchen, I went back for it a bell after I brought you here" he said to her, his eyes inclined to her waking form. "You know, if I knew I'd be repaying a debt today I would have at least brought my own blade," he said with tone of uncertainty lingering the stems of each of his words. "If this is how our relationship is going to be based on, than sooner or later one of us will be digging the others grave" he said with a hollow voice as he stood up from his chair and paced around for a moment. His stride led him towards his wardrobe and it flung open, a simple shirt would do for the remaining bells of the day he told himself as he put it on, he grit his teeth as he moved his body to accommodate the pain. "Getting fucked up already and Spring hasn't even began yet" "I wouldn't move around much if I were you, myrian, you'll strain yourself and stiffen up," he cautioned her as he turned back towards her "Hungry?"

[Kaie]

At first she saw nothing. The room was a haze of heat and spitting flames, shifting and crackling through a dark room she was at least certain wasn't hers. After a several hard blinks and a groan of contempt, the world around her began to weave itself before her in greater detail. That's when she finally saw him. The tall, muscular man with the desert skin and the close cropped black hair. He was sitting there, merely gazing down upon her pathetic figure with an expression she couldn't quite distinguish just yet. A hand shot to the back of her head and jerked away almost immediately.

Goddess, dammit all! Where did I...?

As if a single touch could bring it all rushing back to her...the alley, the jeering men from the tavern, the shine of blades in the moonlight, and the consequent blackness that came thereafter. The hand snaked through her hairline above her forehead instead, seeking to both relieve her of the dull agony and instill a functioning thought process once more. She could not forget that she was in a strange place after all. Yet when she finally heard the man's voice, it wasn't that strange anymore. With a flicker of her eyes back in his direction, Kaie seemed to see Senghor, truly, for the first time. A childish smile crept across her lips and a quiet laugh followed. It wasn't nearly as enthusiastic or slyly coy as it might've been under more favorable circumstances. Still, it was relief and sense of happiness conveyed all the same if not a bit of humility, too.

"So he lives." Kaie had shoved herself all too hurriedly to her feet, finding a nearby wall to steady her shoulder against just before she toppled back to the floor. To her credit she at least made it look like a casual lean. The man had the grace to warn her of such a rushed action, but the Myrian woman was never one to be realistic about her condition. Never out of the fight, well, until someone forces you out she supposed. "I guess a thank you is in order," She added sheepishly. Amber eyes slowly began to burn back to life as they followed him curiously to the wardrobe. "Though what better way is there to welcome the season than with fresh battle wounds to show off?" All of a sudden the lightheadedness came over her once more, and a numbness crept longingly through her legs. Behind his back she turned and pressed her head against the comforting solidity of the wall, her left hand's fingers turning to claws as they gripped the corner.

Stay up, damn you! On your feet. One jungle or another, remember? ...One jungle or another...

By the time Senghor had turned back around she was right back to the position he had last seen her in. Her eyebrows shot up innocently when his gaze found her, his tan flesh now obscured by the shirt he had worn. A glance was stolen in the direction of what she expected was the way to the kitchen. It was such a strange connection she had with her father's old blade, but an important one no less. With a moment to silently prepare herself, Kaie separated herself from the wall and offered another broad grin.

"I'll be alright. I'm hoping you are too," The Myrian gestured back toward where she had spied the bandage earlier, a flicker of concern entered her expression before it went back to playfulness. "It would be a real shame for you to survive all that shyke in those petching caves just to drop dead over a flesh wound." She arched one brow at him as if testing his reaction, smile turning crooked when she seemed to down play the seriousness of his injury. A few brave steps later she crossed the room to face him, wavering slightly.

"But if you're up for food so am I....and how long exactly was I out for anyways?"

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

As Seng slipped into his simple shirt with a caution that would have had a thief envious, his ears picked up on the movements of Kaie. The contours of his face turning into those of disappointment as the proud child of Myri only inflicted nothing but more pain onto her body. As the shirt hugged his lean figure and he shut the cabinet, he turned and looked at her, her exotic features and bronze skin. It was hard to believe that the young woman before him was considered a savage by uneducated knowledge. Her muscles were weak and she did struggle to stand, he could help her but he knew that she wouldn't allow it. He wouldn't allow it if he was in the same place she was, and fortunately enough he once was. He caught her words and his eyes seemed to dim in a cold, unearthly glare, "Enough time for them to have raped you repeatedly only to slit your throat and rape your corpse still..." he spoke coldly at the realization of the grim undertone of Sunberth. If he hadn't intervened, whoever found her dead body would have met nothing but a crippled mass of flesh, battered and raped repeatedly. Sunberth was known for such grotesque actions of assault and sexual perversity come into reality. He looked into her eyes and frowned momentarily as chill came into the room and shattered the glare, "Now, I believe that its time for a bit of food" ... A bell and few chimes in and Senghor was surprised at the product of his half listening and half understanding of Noven whenever the cook tried teaching him too cook. Two bowls of hot soup with steam rising from their crowns stood before the myrian and the human as they sat in his kitchen, nothing but the sounds of an omnipresent Sunberth in the background was what spoke to them. As Seng sat and looked at the myrian, it didn't take long for the gears in his head to began turning methodically. She was fierce, a warrior, a savage, and by Lhex's will she saved his life back at that bloody cave. His lips pursed in thought before he reclined back in his chair and looked at the girl. "Kaie, what's your purpose in life?"

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[Kaie]

In light of all her facetiousness and assurances, the desert skinned mercenary refused to be fooled. Instead he had dug into her deeper than any cutthroat that night before he arrived could've. He wounded her with a cruel reality. The copper skinned female's brow knit in disdain, eyes narrowing and lips parting as if she were to protest his conclusions. An aftershock that wavered within her skull humbled her before she could make the attempt. Instead her lips pressed back together in a hard line. The pyres of her eyes never ceased their burn upon him.

A simple "long enough" would've sufficed, The Myrian thought grimly.

"Lead the way," Kaie murmured with finality. Perhaps if she wasn't so predisposed, she might've internally commended herself for her tongue's restraint.

***

Her self loathing hadn't ceased since she forced herself down into one of Senghor's wooden chairs before the table. She was hunched forward, elbows propped against the surface. Amber eyes glared darkly into the wild grains of the wood, a finger gently tracing the lines and navigating away from potential splinters. It didn't take too long for Senghor to return to her with two steaming bowls in his hands. When it was placed before her, Kaie offered him a mumble of thanks. The very smell had led her to dig right into it almost immediately. Her spoon shoveled the hot liquid into her opened mouth, and she swallowed it heartily each time. Absently, the Myrian couldn't help but ponder when it was she had a decent meal.

"Kaie, what's your purpose in life?"

The spoon paused midway to her lips. The bronzed woman eyed him suspiciously, let the utensil drop casually back into the soup, and leaned back stubbornly in her chair.

"Whatever the Goddess Queen deems it to be," She answered darkly, folding her arms across her slim figure. Then a sigh escaped her lips, as if she had admitted to herself the response was truly a cop out. "I'm not interested in money and fancy things, Senghor. I'm a long petching way from home, and that's hardly by choice now. I know not of the fate my people faced two years ago, my clan." Kaie took a leisurely sip of soup from the spoon and stared into the bowl. Slowly she swirled the utensil into its depths again. "Until I can return to Taloba where I belong, I focus on honoring Myri in the only way I know how. Honing my craft..." Another spoonful was consumed and the utensil dropped into the empty bowl with a gentle clatter."Until it kills me. It is all I have left. And what about you? What are your...ambitions?"

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

As Seng listened to Kaie across the table, chuckle was simply held back at the gates of his lips. Kaie spoke of honoring her goddess-queen Myri and to Senghor found it was a tad bit ironic that after the jungles had produced a warrior of Kaie's proficiency, 'She' was willing to have let her child be raped by some scum in Sunberth. It than led Senghor to believe that Myri might have a certain thing for such a dark foreplay, all those years fighting and no sex for the goddess might have gave her a certain liking to such acts. Quite an itch - Seng told himself as he looked at the myrian before him, such a beautiful specimen a product of death and violence, it seemed that the jungles of Taloba were no different from the streets of Sunberth, and Sunberth might be worse compared to any place he'd been and seen. As Kaie paused and asked him of his ambition, Senghor felt his heart stop for a moment as he looked into her eyes. It was not a cold glare nor was it a warm one, but it had prominent meaning no less. "My Ambition, in Sunberth?" he asked with a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. "Well, seeing as how beatings and probable rapes make people a bit talkative on their pasts than let me tell you a bit about myself Kaie," he said as he leaned into his seat. "I am the product of generations of Anger and Sex. I know these streets in Sunberth like the back of my palms, I know how to read, how to drink, how to fight, how to kill and thankfully, how to fuck" he said with a chuckle at the end. "But you know what I don't know?" he asked. "I don't know who I really am... My purpose, my being, my existence Kaie. To the world I'm Senghor Vilhjalmr, the son of a man and a woman who's past he knows nothing about. I have to find out where I came from, from reading an old molded journal that's leaving me with more questions than answers" he said as he clasped his hand together, his knuckles cracking. "My ambitions Kaie, are to die knowing. I want to die knowing who I at least am or what I am..." "And whoever stands in my way either suffers an early death or they gain an ally, a brethren to call their own. My ambitions Kaie, so often does it seem like I'm in it for the money but there's always something there, something worth finding" he said as eased himself back into his seat, his eyes falling back onto the myrian. An seems this time I found you - he thought. He reclined in his seat, his demeanour shifting to a more eased one. "I will ask you a question and I want an honest answer." Senghor said to her. "Would you like to have purpose?"

[Kaie]

It was if the man had suddenly iced over the moment he understood exactly what was asked about him. The mercenary's eyes had hardened upon her, yet Kaie's own amber hues danced like wildfire in her stare. It was not a returned glare with intention of an angry challenge or some form of bitterness, but one that was fueled by mutual curiosity. The last time she had met him when they had worked as sellswords with the Black Sun, they were just that: sellswords. The Myrian could only assume he had taken the job for money like she had. Times had changed, though, and despite their current circumstance being far more relaxed, Sunberth was unkind and danger lurked just as ominously all the same. Yukmen and brigands or slavers and thugs, it hardly mattered. The world was cold and merciless wherever she went.

The start to his speech wasn't one Kaie could appreciate. Once again he had brought up the fate he had allowed her to narrowly avoid, and though she was grateful, a scowl graced her features anyway. Let's just call the debt paid, mercenary, She thought before she too slouched back into her chair to listen. Her brow knit in concentration as she followed him through his narration. Soon enough the scowl had faded into an expression far more placid. His ultimate ambitions, however, piqued her interest if only because they truly shocked her. Senghor's end goal wasn't just to conquer, petch, and hoard as much gold as he could pocket. The man simply wanted to know himself and where he truly came from. The two were so far apart on the spectrum, and yet too close for her own comfort.

After a couple chimes of silence, the Myrian female shook bronzed fingers through her long brown hair so it cascaded neatly behind her shoulders, and finally leaned forward toward the desert skinned warrior. Her elbows braced against the table once more but her eyes hadn't found his expectant stare quite yet. The wildfires of her irises bore deep holes into the simple wood for a couple ticks. Then they suddenly flashed up to meet Senghor's with an unwavering fearlessness and certainty that shook even her own core.


"You were more honest than I expected you to be, so I will do the same in return. I've been in this land too long. I have seen things I wish I hadn't. Everyday Falyndar seems to drift farther and farther away, so very distant that sometimes I swear I may never see its shore again no matter how far I sail. I've begun to forget why I came to your world in the first place. I've tried too many times to remind myself what purpose the Goddess Queen had declared for me, by staring into so many empty tankards of ale," Kaie admitted with a voice vacant but saturated in the harsh accent of her people. The throbbing in her head blotted out her running thoughts for a tick, but when it returned her tone had grown steadier than any drum she heard around the Dancing Fires during her youth.
"If you've a mind to offer me what I've lost, I'll hear you out."

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

Why would Seng tell the myrian his life story, well he didn't know fully why. Maybe it was the need for answers and maybe if he'd said a few things here and there to the right person than answers would appear, here and there. The desert borne warrior seemed to lean back after he told her what it was she wanted to hear and the look on her face seemed to be the same look he once had long before. So many people in Sunberth were no different from the two sitting across one another yet as Senghor had seen it was so often how one lived their life that gave them answers. In turn of speaking, Kaie told Seng her side of the story and a thought came to mind which wove itself in the mind of the mercenary - The universe is a yawning chasm, filled with emptiness and the puerile meanderings of sentience. The corners of lips tugged slightly as he thought such a macabre notion, nothing but muscle, anger and no brain is what a lot of people thought of Seng and he knew it, he often played the hungry mercenary who fights first and thinks later yet mentally he knew that he was pulling strings at each nerve of people just to see how far they'd go. It was what made him, if he could deceive people into thinking that he wasn't wise than he was already molding himself into a true epitome of his predecessory. As his ears ate her words it seemed that an idea had began to form within the confines of his head, his timeless machinations at play with an induced pace until finally she spoke. "You know, I can lie and tell you that I can help you get to Taloba. I can also tell you that I can help you discover your past if you help me find my own. But..." he paused with a moment and looked at her, deeply etching his existence in those amber eyes of the myrian. "I won't, instead I will offer you something better. I will offer blood," he said, if only he had a knife to slit his palm and saw her what it was that he was talking about. "I will offer something that will bind you to me and I to you, and others just like us willing to achieve whatever it is that they want - a brethrenhood Kaie," he said as his mind reared back at the thought of the Broken Shackles. "That is what I offer you... I will fight at your side, if you fight at mine. I will kill for you if you do so for me, whatever the consequence, whatever the war" "My blood is your blood. Our blood is that of others who've chosen to go down this path to achievement. You want to go back home, we will give you a home. Be it Taloba or Sunberth..." he paused, the words that came out his mouth seemed to be sugar-coating something that wasn't but than he knew the truth as all the Shackles brethren did. He sighed heavily at it... "We all going through paths in this life Kaie, ours is darker than most. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about, I know that going down a path with nobody but yourself isn't going to achieve anything but pain and death - I simply offer you a helping hand to go through that path with, be it mine or another you'd call brethren" he said as truthfully as his voice could muster. "The gold, the luxuries and whatever the Hell you want to suite your pleasures will just be what we take to achieve what it is we truly want"