Closed I'm not a thief! I work in acquisitions. (Azmere) Part 2

[Jasmine Stormblood]

5th Winter 515 A.V.

Jasmine looked at the man when he spoke to her once more. She bowed her head in shame knowing that her father would skin her or offer her to the man as a bride. Forced marriage is nothing that Jasmine wanted to happen between the two. At least not over something as petty as some dried meat. Jasmine took a deep breath and raised her head confidently moving her hair out of the way.

“My name is Jasmine Moonstone. I am of the Amethyst clan,” Jasmine said looking into the sunburst eyes of the man across from her.

She refused to bow her head to any one. The girl stood tall against her father's will and would stand tall behind her actions. Chaser snorted getting antsy ready to leave. Jasmine shushed the stallion and turned back to the Drykas man. Blue eyes stared into the Sunburst eyes across from them. The world around the two seemed to disappear. Jasmine only payed attention to the male drykas knowing Chaser would be more forceful should any kind of danger appear while the two were conversing.

“You're eyes. Why do they contain stars?” Jasmine asked looking at the young man.

Jasmine watched the man trying to decide if she should try to out run him or if she would fail. Either way the woman needed to make her decision quickly or risk being married. Her eyes soaked in the muscles and fought to decide if they were from working out or running around.

The Clan is Strength.
The Clan is Life.

[Azmere]

Azmere sighed a bit in relief when she said Amethyst clan. So the thief’s name is Jasmine. Azmere watched her demeanor shift from a little girl who knows she’s about to get into trouble to a young woman with a strong spirit. Azmere admired that about Jasmine. People ought to be held accountable and this was far easier a task when the guilty stood tall behind their actions. Azmere rose to his feet and offered an arm down to Jasmine. He would help her up and was still deliberating what would be the best way to handle the situation of her thievery. His eyes watched her for a few moments when she opened her smiling lips and asked about the patterns splattered across his eyes. He watched for a moment longer to see what her purpose was in asking. It seemed to be only curiosity. Azmere was unsure of how he should respond. The brazen young woman was already on thin ice with the watchman. His sleep had been disturbed, his jaw hurt from the night before and he was still waiting for her to offer some kind of resolution for stealing his food. What did she think was going to happen? She had taken from him and was now just trying to have a conversation like their paths crossed at the market.

Azmere stiffened his form a bit as the muscles in his back complained and whined to be stretched. He rolled his big shoulders from front to back and then repeated the action while deliberating what to do with this girl. Taking a moment, he reached an arm across his chest and wrapped the other arm around behind the elbow. The Drykas then pulled each in the opposite direction to stretch out some of the muscles on his arms but mostly the ones of his upper back. After a ten count, he switched the position of his arms and stretched the other side. Once that was done, he locked his hands together in front of his body and began to twist from side to side at the waist. Once he got as far as he could go to the right, he'd swivel hard to the left. One the third try, some of his vertebrae popped and he sighed in relief. The little bit of exercise had given him clarity.

Azmere finally decided that he had enough issues with the Topaz clan that he didn’t need to add to that with another clan. The archer was going to follow the girl home and speak with her ankal on the matter. With both of them standing, Azmere leveled his gaze upon the young lady’s bright eyes. “Alright Jasmine Moonstone, in regards to you stealing from me we must settle this with the head of your family... Who is your ankal?” The young man started to exit the trees and then stopped. He turned and reached his hand out to take hers. If she resisted, he would use more force but he simply wanted her to do as he wished. This was already making his day horrible. He really didn’t want to drag her to the clan’s ankal tent and ask her father to claim th thief amidst his peers.

Textbox courtesy of Firenze

[Jasmine Stormblood]

Jasmine took the man's hand and stood up with his assistance. She signed her thanks for the help and thought about what she could do as an attempt to make it up to the man. At first the woman did not hear the man ask her to escort him to her ankal. She had been far too wrapped up in trying to think of something. A few chimes passed before it finally registered. Take me to your ankal. Her heart raced against her ribcage knowing exactly what her father would do to her after hearing she had stolen from another Drykas.

"NO! I-I mean no let's not wake him at such a late hour. Surely there must be some way that we can settle this little matter between us," Jasmine said clearing her voice as it tried to break when she first spoke.

Chaser snorted hearing the girl shout before going back to grazing. Jasmine looked at the man before her once more. Finally it dawned on her the rabbit that was still at her home.

"I have a rabbit at my tent that I am more than happy to give you to replace the meat I took," Jasmine said trying to convince him.

When it didn't appear to work the woman began to inwardly panic seeing him reach for her. He was appeared to be fully intent on going to speak with her father. There was only one thing left for her to do. BEG.

"Wait! how about a contest? If you win I will go with you without a fight. If I win then I give you the rabbit in my tent and we call it even," Jasmine said praying he took the deal.

The Clan is Strength.
The Clan is Life.

[Azmere]

Azmere saw her reaction to his plan. The Moonstone Ankal must be a very intimidating figure to strike such fear into the girl. He kept referring to her as such when she was well beyond the age of a girl. However, her behavior was suggesting that she was very much a teenager. Perhaps the ankal was her father and he spoiled her; that would certainly explain a great deal. He watched as she scrambled for alternate solutions. One couldn’t really argue with someone attempting to make a deal, could he?

He listened to the proposal of the rabbit and noticed she hesitated to come with him. The Drykas narrowed his eyes at this gesture. For being cooperative at first, the tone had quickly changed for the young maiden. Staring hard at her, the archer soon found out this one was a bit more resourceful than she appeared. A contest, what a novel idea! Albeit premature, Azmere was already opening up to the prospect of it all. He could win the contest, get the rabbit and save face with her clan by delivering her safely to her family. Who knows, he might even forget to mention the thieving bit. His mood had drastically changed but unfortunately for Jasmine, his face did not reveal any of these thoughts. Instead, she was faced with the tired, grumpy and stern face of a disfigured warrior who was wishing to still be in bed.

“You must be very skilled to challenge a grown man to a contest, girl.” Azmere locked his eyes on that pure blue gaze of hers. His mismatched irises seemed to swirl when he put intensity in his stare. Searching for a hidden motive, the man realized this young woman simply didn’t want to get into trouble. He exhaled while biting down on the inside of his lower lip. “What did you have in mind, Jasmine Moonstone?” Azmere lowered his hand and leaned against a tree waiting to hear what she had in mind. He was already awake and uncomfortable so why not add in some kind of workout? Idly thinking over the matter at hand, he didn’t even realize that he’d been rubbing his jaw where the Topaz clansman had twice bashed him yesterday. The last few days had been rough. The Drykas really hoped that the rest of the season was easier and less eventful.

Textbox courtesy of Firenze

[Jasmine Stormblood]

Jasmine thought about what he said and narrowed her eyes. She took offense to being called girl. She was a grown woman even if the woman didn't always act it.

"I am no girl! I am a woman, thank you very much!" Jasmine growled in such a way that ferociousness in her voice was reflected in her stare.  

That same fierceness and determination burned in her eyes whenever her Ankal would go off on one of his rants. Jasmine's fiery spirit flared in her eyes time and again like it did this morning. She stood and stared straight into the man's eyes not daring to back down for a moment. Though her father was half this man's size in muscle. The elder of the two men had scars that showed all he had seen. The scars and his hardened demeanor was enough to frighten any of the younger men of the clans. Having grown up around the man Jasmine knew that most of his threats were just that threats.

“Since you are so confident I suggest a climbing competition,” Jasmine said looking at the man and hoped he would accept.

She knew that it was unlikely that the man before her would accept the challenge. He would much rather prefer something that he could win without a doubt. Her heart raced but her expression still read determination and slight anger towards the term girl he had used earlier.

The Clan is Strength.
The Clan is Life.

[Azmere]

Azmere stood unmoved by the emotional display. It wasn’t that the show lacked value but rather the watchman had practiced a stoic expression to prevent others from gauging his reactions. It wasn’t a fool-proof technique but added with how tired he was, Azmere was more than comfortable to not so much as twitch under Jasmine’s scrutiny. He almost rolled his eyes at her statement of womendom, however. He had no issues with having women as superiors or equals so long as their skills dictated the necessity. It was the petulant whining that drove him crazy. Just because I’m a woman blah blah blah. We may not be diamond but we’re strong blah blah. Azmere waiting until the presentation was over to reply.

The expression free zone broke down as surprise lit up across Azmere’s features like a grass fire in midsummer. His gaze stayed on her for several ticks. He watched for something to indicate that she was joking but no tells were seen. He grinned just slightly in the unscarred corner of his mouth and nodded. Now his gaze shifted to the trees around them. While they were not huge, they were not small either. The main concern that initially presented itself to the mind of the warrior was to question the structural integrity of the branch systems. Would they hold his weight? He returned his silent musings to the girl. It had been very clever to suggest climbing. It was not even in the same wheelhouse as what Azmere had been expecting. The confined spaces and fragile intricacies of the tree itself literally put them on an even, albeit vertical, playing field. The then watchman’s viewpoint took over.

What if she means to trick me? She could pretend to fall behind and then shimmy down quickly and be gone on her strider and then the chase would start all over again. Azmere turned a bit and lifted his sight up into the treetops. With a sidelong glance, he kept an eye on the little blonde. If she tried to trick him, he would be ready. It was simple enough of a plan. If she started to lag behind, he would do the same and feign difficulty. Once she caught up, he could resume the lead but needed to make sure to stay near her level.

The archer squared up to jasmine and gave her a look that reeked of arrogance. “Climbing it is.” Azmere removed his club, cloak and quiver and set them al on the snow in a neat pile. He dropped his head to the right as far as his neck would stretch and held it there for several ticks. Then he reversed the position and repeated the sequence two more times. Azmere rolled his shoulders about and swung his arms back and forth in opposite directions so they would cross and hen swing away and then cross against his ribs and then ricochet back out. He watched the girl the whole time while he limbered up his muscles. If she’s never been stalked by a wolf, she wouldn’t recognize the pattern but the back and forth pace coupled with preparatory displays of dominance might give it away anyhow. The Drykas was already planning on getting a running start at the tree so he tried not to focus on one in particular. He invested his time much more wisely by taking in enough detail to learn about the trees as a whole. The only pattern he could make out which was universal to all was that there was no repeating sequence. Now that his blood was flowing, Azmere took a step towards Jasmine. He signed the question if she was ready to begin.

Textbox courtesy of Firenze

[Jasmine Stormblood]

“Arrogance will do you no good unless you climb these trees often,” Jasmine said with a glare and walked away from the trees.

Using her heels pressed against her toes Jasmine marked how many paces she needed to be in order to get a good running jump. The woman turned on her heels when she got to the spot she knew would give her a good start to this race. She was uninterested if the distance would bother her competitor or not. If he wished to go further back or stay closer to the trees then it would be his option. Jasmine watched the man's movements recognizing them instantly. He was trying to wake up his tired muscles whereas Jasmine didn't have to worry about such things.

'Ready when you are,' Jasmine signed back and listened when he began to count.

Taking a deep steady breath Jasmine shot forward when he said go. Forcing her breathing to stay steady Jasmine marked in her mind's eyes exactly where she needed to jump in order to grab the branch. After a few ticks Jasmine hit her spot and jumped grabbing the branch using the moment to swing herself up on to the bottom limb. Blowing the hair out of her face Jasmine took only a chine to find her opponent before working to scurry up the tree. Several profanities slipped under her breath as the tree bark dug into her hand and feet. Even in pain Jasmine fought to keep climbing. Her muscles screamed to just let the man win, but her pride refused to let her back down from the very challenge she had thrown at the man. Stopping for a moment on a limb to catch her breath Jasmine looked to try and see if she could find where her competitor was currently at.

“Where did he go?” Jasmine whispered knowing he had been hot on her heels when she had taken off towards the tree.

The Clan is Strength.
The Clan is Life.

[Azmere]

Azmere watched and listened to Jasmine with mild amusement. He had been angry at the start of this journey so perhaps the blonde’s bubbling personality and endless banter had brightened his morning. One might even say that it’s an improvement over the normal silence that accompanies Azmere throughout his day. That person just doesn’t appreciate the quiet. Azmere narrowed his gaze at the tree and kept tabs on Jasmine as she marked out a distance for a running start. It was not a bad idea; in fact, he had already been making preparations to do the same. His current train of concentration was on the tree itself. The branches didn’t afford much of a pattern so climbing would be more difficult without a plan. He traced several courses with his eyes and went over them back and forth several times each. Climbing is very much an intuitive art but the Drykas did not like to leave much in the way of chance when a wager was involved.

Jasmine proclaimed her readiness and then shot forward. Azmere needed no further encouragement to begin. His body exploded from its stance with arms and legs pumping to drive him forward. The distance he had allowed provided enough time to build up a decent sprint. Just before he reached the trunk, Azmere pushed up and kicked his leg out planting his boot on the trunk itself using his momentum to propel him upwards. He skipped the lower ring of branches entirely and extended his arms at the peak of his hop to capture a solid hold. The branch allowed him to swing to one side and rest is foot upon another sturdy limb. Azmere was careful to keep his hands and feet close to the trunk while making his ascension. Twice, he looked over and paused seeing the girl half a length beneath him or so. He did not want to get too far ahead in case this was some elaborate double cross. The watchman even went so far as to allow her a bit of a lead before resuming his climb. His arms flexed and relaxed in a timed sequence with his legs as weight was alternately distributed.

His boots slipped several times on the slick bark, cold and damp from the snow made for poor footing. Azmere had taken the lead by nearly his full height when this happened for a third time. Obviously, the branch he intended to use simply wouldn’t work. So instead, he focused all of his energy on his grip and arms. His hands were fairly even as far as positioning so the Drykas began to pull his body upwards. His shoulders and biceps strained under the hanging weight of his form but responded with adrenaline and strength. Slowly, he rose up between the branches. To avoid any unnecessary issues, Azmere pushed his abs into a tight line which kept his legs and back straight. The act of keeping his core still was a huge help as he found his shoulders up against his hands. The warrior pushes his legs out and gripped the trunk of the tree with his thighs much as he did when riding. This allowed for a quick adjustment of his grip that took his hands from below the branches to above. Azmere released his legs and pushed down which lifted his body up through the gap and gave him a sure footing. He was nearly at the top so his eyes went for Jasmine to see how she was faring. As he stood within arm’s reach of the finish, he simply waited. Once she got close, he would extend his arm to the last branch and announce his victory and then they could be on their way. Then it occurred to him that he was being foolish. Why not just take the rabbit and call it even? Azmere became lost in thought and his eyes dropped their focus from his competitor.

Textbox courtesy of Firenze

[Jasmine Stormblood]

Jasmine finally managed to spot her competitor. Panting a growl escaped from her throat, the woman did not want to admit defeat; but part of her knew that she would not make it before him. She was proud of how close she had stayed with him given he was almost two heads taller than she. Finally catching her breath Jasmine began climbing once more. The blond took her time allowing her muscles to rest and the adrenaline that was coursing through her very veins to slow.

After some time Jasmine managed to climb up right across from him. Smiling softly she looked to her opponent.

"You ran a good race. If we race again don't hold back," Jasmine said and slowly began her decent.

Jasmine had to work her way down slowly as her muscles were finally giving out on her. Stopping halfway down Jasmine panted gently as the muscles in her arms and legs began to quiver. Her body was finally succumbing to exhaustion. Making a face Jasmine forced her body to keep moving. Gripping a limb as tightly as the woman could she began her descent once more. Hearing the sounds of small limbs breaking with a little snow falling Chaser looked up seeing the female rider. Jasmine smiled seeing the strider move into position for her to climb onto his back. Chaser snorted and shifted feeling her cold feet touch his back.

"I know big guy. My feet are freezing," Jasmine said gently patting his neck.

The Clan is Strength.
The Clan is Life.

[Azmere]

Azmere had spaced out until Jasmine appeared before him in the tree. He smiled at her with his crooked smile and extended his arm to the branch above him. She was a good sport that much was certain. She didn’t protest other than to call him out on dogging his pace to stay even with her. This endeared her to Azmere somewhat. So many people wanted to complain but this girl was content with her situation so long as she was given a chance to fight and earn her way.

He watched while she descended the tree and onto the back of her strider. Nice trick, he thought to himself. Much in the way he had climbed up would explain how he made his way back to the ground. Azmere used slow and deliberate curls and extensions of his arms and legs to maneuver the irregular criss-cross of branches. Once he got down to the last tier, he hung with his arms curled up allowing the tension in his biceps to radiate and strain for a few ticks. Once he was satisfied with the burning sensation that coursed through his upper arms, he slowly lowered himself to the ground. Once down, he looked over to see Jasmine standing on her strider’s back. He started to make his way out of the trees and stopped on his heel and spun round to face her.

“Jasmine Moonstone.” He signed a farewell to her. “Stop stealing from people. Asking for help is easier than asking for forgiveness.” He signed a thank you and indicated it was for the competition. He smiled again and headed out into the slightly awakening world. He paused long enough to gather his weapons and cloak then rose and whistled. A strider came bounding towards the man but stopped well short of his rider. Hephiestian was a stubborn horse in that way. He would travel seventy percent of the way but always made Azmere come to him. The Drykas had just accepted this fact years ago. With no effort at all, the watchman mounted his steed and adjusted the club against his leg. With a final glance towards Jasmine, he waved to her and turned the strider back in the direction from which they’d come. Azmere spurred the horse ahead with a gentle dig from his heels. The duo rode towards the grey sky of the east with rider pushing beast to a furious pace and quickly taking them from view.

Textbox courtesy of Firenze