Am I Going Crazy? (Fraha)

[Ethan]

Night, 28th Day of Spring, 511 A.V All the excitement and rush of information within the past two days made him long for the simple pleasures of flying. The chance to clear his head and think about the current situation. No matter what was happening with Hadrian he could not easily forget about Emilie. They were separated and he promised to protect her. As young as Ethan was, he took promises very seriously.. So tonight, like so many other useless nights he searched the forest. Hundreds of feet above the forest he kept his eyes trained for any movement. Tall rising Oak's and Pines obstructed his view until he was directly over head. Making the search that much harder. Thankfully to his advantage the moon was out and casting a bright silver glow to the forest. The wind was a little choppy but manageable and comfortably cool. Nothing like the bitter dry winds he had to endure during the winter. Locking his muscles up mid flight. Ethan's bright golden eye's were deadly still, focused on nothing but catching everything with amazing clarity. For practical reasons Ethan kept the city in sight at all times. If Emilie was going any were then it would be Syliras. Going too far out would be a waste of time and energy. His hunger was already rising due to the use of Djed and Morphing between bodies. As a bird his stomach never growled but it called at him angrily. He couldn't remember the last time he consumed an animals delicious marrow. Bones stayed heavy in his stomach. Keeping his satisfied for weeks. Meat and other things in his human form ran out too quickly. Ethan tilted his large wings, slowly drifting towards the city. Where the tree's canopy was thinner and their were more openings. Emilie became a back thought to food. He glided for several minutes, silently searching for anything dead or alive. He hunted a deer and some small fowl with Emilie but he never joined her in eating the meat. Maybe this time he would, in her honor. The forest was carefully picked threw with his eyes. Nothing went unnoticed, yet strangely the forest was empty. Hardly any movement from what he could see.. That was a sign as big as any other. The lack of movement showed just as much as movement. He pulled in his dark black and brown wings half way to his body. Dropping his altitude sharply and precisely. He sighted a good perch and swooped in gracefully without a sound. Ethan sank his claws into the branch of a tall pine. He always seemed to favor them. Good view point and the branches never tangled him up or hid predators. He was probably a hundred feet off the ground. Resting his wings staring at his surroundings. The silence was a little unnerving... Silence meant trouble. Either from a human or something even more dangerous. Silence meant that every animal in the area did not want something or someone know about their presence. Not wanting to give himself away he lay still. Looking over each detail of the forest. Checking the gaps between thick hanging branches for any sign of life. Trying to pick up on the reflection of eyes or anything else that would give it away. He thought for a second about using his new gift of Auristics but didn't have the stomach for the idea. It was too draining and cut off his perfectly good sight. Their was no need to seek out Auras when his eye's were so sharp. Far to his left something moved between a series of large oaks and heavy bush. Head forward and eyes fixated he waited. Waited to see if it was something to fear or eat. Something with wings, large enough to eat him like the vicious Balicani

[Fraha]

The great moonlight was enlighting the path, but not like she wanted. The heavy branches were filtering the intense light making it hard to see clearly the path. The good thing was that there were some areas that were rather bright and good for the use. *what a stupid, stupid stupid stupid* was the only thought on Fraha's mind. Why a young Benshira would found herself in a dark wood departed from the right way? Only Fraha could fall asleep un the middle of a forest, after getting far away from the city, without thinking that she might get lost. Fraha was walking quickly, jumping off the bushes and the rocks that she could see. Her black cloth set made her feel safer since she thought black suited well camouflage. She was basing on the bright areas to move and her only objective was to find the highest three to climb. From there she thought she would spot Syliras, that was a good idea to her...and the only one as well. Hunger was starting to grow too, Fraha checked the her shoulder bag under the cloak to see if there was anything left from earlier. Nothing, a bit panic and sadness raised in Fraha as she started to seriously think about her survival. Walking still in the woods Fraha reached an area with oaks and bushes where she saw a great pinethree standing slightly among the others. She smiled as a ray of hope opened on her thoughts and quickly ran to the three, dropping of her cloack and shoulder bag. Standing now before the great wood mass, dressed only with black trousers and a black top robe short enough to expose her bellybutton, Fraha watched the hundreds of branches upon her, covered with cones and needles. She decided to take the sandals off too to have a better grip, so she placed a foot behid another one still looking up and planning the sequence of climbing and pulled with the front foot to slip out the sandal. In a second she was stending a few meters from the three, bare feet and ready for action. Since no one was there stretched the fingers and the ancles before she took a slight dash to start her climb.

[Ethan]

Ethan didn't notice how tight his muscles were clenched until he relaxed. It was no monster of the forest nor was it dangerous. The woman emerged from the brush. The moonlight that did shine threw revealed a tall thin woman with light copper skin. Short black hair and a very eager look about her. She was quite beautiful and it struck Ethan as terribly odd that a young woman would be wandering the forest this late at night. Didn't she know the dangers this forest held? She was dressed in all black. Black cotton trousers and a short robe that showed her stomach off. It was odd but he liked looking at her. Ethan watched people often as a bird. They never noticed him and he could watch their true behavior. It intrigued him how people really acted but he never really watched people in a forest before. This would be interesting especially since the woman is acting out of survival. Ethan sunk into himself like most birds and watched patiently. She was heading straight for the tree he was in, but what for? Lost and looking for a high view point was the most logical solution he could come up with. She reached the trunk and took off her sandals to better climb. He had to lean forward on his perch to get a good view. Ethan was surprised with how graceful she was. From his experience most people didn't have it in him like animals did. With a running start she was on the tree trunk high enough to grab a good branch. With little effort she was climbing up the tree and was making excellent time. She was obviously lost, Ethan was a scout after all. It might even be profitable to help, but if she fell he could eat her... The thought was unsavory and quickly left. It was more logical to help. She might have money or could help him one day. Even though he hated the idea of letting a random human knowing his race. The forest allowed for him to kill her if needed and that was a major plus. Ethan dropped off his perch and glided downwards to a couple branches ahead of the woman. She was an impressive climber. When he got closer Ethan studied the woman with a creepy stillness. He didn't make a sound while he sat their watching the woman. He didn't know what to do to make he climb back down but he was working on it. The only sound he made was a sharp shriek when the woman reached for an unsteady branch. He could see the rot and flimsiness from his perch. Hopefully she was smart enough to get the message behind his cry.

[Fraha]

As her footsteps reached half meter from the three Fraha blew out the air in her lungs and jumped with the left leg on the three, and ase the right on landsd on the three surface she pushed hard up and extended herself as much as she could to reach the firts branch. *done* thought she as found herself pending at around 2 meters height. She then pushed again with a foot against the trunk to give inertia upwards and help her arms pull her up. Not that she couldn't lift herself alone but the climb was long and she had to save energy. Fraha was now on the first branch sitting on her feet with a hand on the trunk and one on the branch. Some of her hair went on her face so she moved it behind her ears and clenched the headband so that the hair wont come forward again. There were now multilpe choices on were to go, there was were branches everywhere on that three, the only problem was the visibility, Moonlight was filtered by the needles but the shadows were pretty visible. She started to grab a branch then another one and easily pushed herself up placing the foot or knees on the previous used branches. Everything was going fine untill, with her hands on the trunk and her feet on a branch she had to jump up and reach another branch, it was pretty risky since she was around 5 meters high. She took a deep breath and was about to jump when she heard something mooving upwards. A bit of fright and paranoia went up and she stopped to watch closely but didn't see anything. *probably my immagination* thought she as flexing the legs she prepared to do a risky manuver. "ha!" Shortly gasped she as her feet left the wooden surface. The left hand was used to give extra push from the trunk while the right one had to grab the branch. Everything went good, Fraha reached the branch and immediatly grabbed it with both hands to pull her self up this time feet first. She turned facing the trunk and lifted the feet so they would cross over the branch, after which she lifted and with some inertia turned up. A drop of sweat went of her forehead, a bit for adrenalyne a bit for hunger and a bit for fatigue. She had flexed the branch and made a pine nut fall down. But as Fraha stood tall again and looked up she saw something, it was in shadows and was standing around 1.5 meter higher than she was and didn't look like a branch or a nut. Fraha got curious and looked close on that. Suddenly the thing shrieked sharply like only eagles do! Fraha realized shw was standing ander an eagle which just screamed on her. Her eyes widened after so sudden terrificant surprize and she instinctively screamed in terror "WAAaah!!* her voice always was pretty high and tenuous but when she would raise the tone it would sound very innocent and worried. She lost balance, her foot sleeped and she felt backwards. In mid-air she still regrouped and turned in attemp to grab a branch. the result was that she smashed onthe branch she jumped from befor with her belly. The impact was strong considering the 1.5 meters fall, but she felt lucky as she looked at the 5 or 6 meter remaining alrtough it hurted like hell on her abdomen. She tried stayed there for a couple of seconds woutung for the pain to get away.

[Ethan]

Ethan looked straight at her while she screamed in a strange and truly surprised way. It almost made him want to laugh. He wasn't sure what he was getting at but he loved the reaction. It was so real, so interesting to see. Although when she started to loose her balance he felt nothing but guilt. He knew automatically that she fell because he surprised her. Even when falling the woman showed a natural grace and strength. He was practically falling off his branch to get a good look to make sure she was okay. She didn't fall far. Only to the branch below but he could empathize. Ethan felt terrible but admired her again for being able to pull that off. He wanted to go down and make sure she was fine but he didn't want to spook her again. If he changed and urged her to go back down she might have a heart attack. Screeching didn't work obviously... but their was another option. With one last look Ethan gave a gentle low cry of apology in a way and hopped off his perch. Pulling out his wings mid drop to effortlessly glide past the tree and to the closest cover. The plan was a little foolish but if this woman kept climbing she could grab onto the wrong branch and fall much harder. He felt a little guilty and didn't want that to happen. Besides, what would Hadrian say if he let that happen? He was human after all. Ethan flew silently and touched down just as quiet. He didn't want to let the woman know where he went. Especially for what he was about to do next. When his bare talons hit the moist grass he realized something terrible. Ethan didn't prepare to set down in civilization, he didn't bring along his clothes. Mentally cursing himself he still began the change. Calling upon his soul to shift forms like he always did. Although it felt different this time. Knowing that he did the same thing for looking at Aura's. The shimmering golden white light came and surrounded him. The feeling of having your body instantly changed into a human is indescribable. Could even give a person a headache for trying to explain it. Even though Ethan was terribly curious he didn't bother with such a mystery. Although with his new teacher things aren't all that mysterious as he though. Ethan wasted little time and hoped the shadow's would cover his nakedness. He quickly ran to the tree. The soft moist grass irritating his feet. Small branches and thistles stabbing into his foot. Ethan came up fast to the tree far enough away to see the woman. Nearly invisible he thanked his good eyes for picking her up almost instantly. Covered by the layers of branches and shadows were the moon didn't reach. The woman was still within ear shot. Ethan looked around to make sure nothing was lurking about and called out to the woman. Low at first but still audible in the dead silence of the forest. “Ma'am! Please get down I would hate for you to get hurt. I'm here to help. My name is Ethan you can trust me. Be safe when getting down though. Lots of those branches are rotten.” Ethan hardly ever let a human know who he was. His name and especially his race. Too many slavers were out their and he was just getting used to trusting Hadrian, but he knew this woman needed help. Never one for morals he didn't know why he had to help her but he felt the reason in his heart. “Are you lost?” He called up with an awkward smile. He just realized his body wasn't all that covered in shadow but he couldn't move too fast out of the way if he didn't want to scare her.

[Fraha]

Fraha was still feeling the pain on her abdomen. Grinning her teeth she slowly raised the arms and tried to reagin balance on the branch. Immediatly she looked up to find that damn eagle that almost killed her. But no matter how deeply she would look she couldn't see him *coward killer* was her first taught *but maybe there's a nest with babies...or eggs!* Fraha poked herself at the forehead, her idea seemed brilliant to her, food and location all in one three! She stood up against the trunk again massagin slightly her belly to ease the pain at least a bit. She looked for another way to get up till there and eventually she saw another reliable branch. While she waas standing there, calculating how she would climb it up when she heard a voice coming from below. She immediatly looked down but didn't see anything apart the voice. How could she not have heard the steps? As the voice spoke Fraha searched the font, noticing that it was coming from a shadowed zone *if he's in the shadows he's hiding, hey there are my belongings*. She didn't want her things to be stolen. She literally launche head first on a lowest branc, grabbed it and rotated on it. When the time came she left the hold and landed on a lowest branch which her again was grabbed and used as a fulcrum to jump on a lowest branch. Fraha was now on the first branch she climbed up to, standing around 2.5 meters from the ground and looking in the shadow zone. There was standing a handsome man with something like a dark blond hair. But rhere was something wierd about him. " Are you naked?" asked she in return of his question

[Ethan]

The question was blunt and straight to the point. Ethan stifled a laugh a laugh but tried to keep a straight face. He thought for a moment of what to say. It was certainly complicated and she seemed to be fine. She hoped down and twirled about on that tree like no other. She could handle herself but he still wanted to make sure she was okay. “Well are you lost? Because the only reason a person would be climbing up that high is because their lost. I can help you if you are lost.” Ethan paused and laughed, not bothering to keep it quiet. He was bearing everything already he didn't see the point. “I apologize for being naked but I can help you. I'm a scout of sorts.” He flashed a warm smile and started walking towards the tree. He noticed the pack of stuff but ignored it. Not wanting to look like a thief. He was close enough to the tree to help her down. “Do you need a hand down. I promise you I won't bite. I only came here because I saw someone in need.” Ethan stood their looking up at the woman. “You took quiet a drop, are you alright? I can guide you back to Syliras if you want?”

[Fraha]

Fraha wasn't serious about her question of him being naked, she didn't belive it was possible. But as the man walked to under the three, not even caring to cover himself she got confused. I'm perfectly found, i'm no lost sentenced Fraha unsure of what she said But, you....you are naked. Fraha couldn't believe it, a naked man was standing under the three she was on and offering her help, knowing she was lost and knowing she got hurt. Something's wrong here thought she. Is it a dream? Asked Fraha looking around to see if something special happens. She pinched herslef at the pulse, but only said ouch!. She grabbed the branch with both hands and left her self down first pending and then landing on the ground. Are you real? Do something real Said Fraha as with caution and a hand on the hilt of the Wakizashi (placed in the holder behind her back) she made some steps to the naked man, looking at him.

[Ethan]

“If you are found, my lady, then why are you in that tree?” Ethan gave a crooked smile when she started coming to terms with his bare features. Human's were so particular with nudity. They always wanted to see it but were too ashamed and dignified to simply accept it. “Yes, I seem to have misplaced my clothes.” He laughed and scratched the stubble underneath his chin. He was still looking at a half visible shadow threw the branches when she wondered if this was a dream. It was interesting of her to question reality and it made sense. He did just seem to appear out of no where. He hoped he wasn't frightening her, looking like a rapist. She even went so far as to pinch herself. “This isn't a dream my lady. I just came here to help. My name is Ethan I'm from Syliras.” He hoped to sound more proper but the more he thought about it. The more foolish it sounded.. He was naked after all, and if she was questioning reality what would she do if she knew about what he was? She hoped down from the tree with the grace of a dancer. Lightly dropping onto the grass with a damp thud. She stood up and in the moonlight Ethan could clearly tell she was very beautiful. Light copper skin with dark black hair and stunning eyes. She was very slender but he liked that in a way. It reminded him of birds. Naturally graceful and sleek. He felt himself smile a little as she came forward. The smile turned sour as the woman asked him to do something real. Asking if he was real? The thing that concerned him the most. Was the dull shine of a metal pummel beneath her fingertips. She was resting a hand on some type of blade along the small of her back. “Now, now I was just trying to help. There is no need for blades.” He kept his tone friendly and joking. Not wanting to show fear or anger. Ethan found a curved tongue was a lot better than a sword. “I am as real as you are.” Ethan thought of an example he could show her but decided she might need real evidence. “Come over here and touch my arm if you'd like.” Ethan's heart was racing in his chest. This was dangerous but it was the easiest thing he could think of. He held out his left arm out and smiled at her. “I won't bite, I'm perfectly safe.” He soothed her with a warm smile. “Just don't try and kill me with that blade.” He jested but kept his eyes focused for the slightest sign of betrayal. In the moonlight sparkled off his deep golden eyes.

[Fraha]

Fraha listened to Ethan while she wa walking up to him. His words were honest and funny. Fraha had to struggle to not laugh, she had to keep things serious. A naked man in the woods wanting to help her, how many chances existed that this might happen. As he mentioned the arm Fraha thought of a man's anathomy and couldn't handle it but to start laughing hard. The first thought she had was *which one?*. Fraha left the hand from the blade and placed both hands on the knees as she leaned forward, with the abdomen half hurting from before and half tensed now from the fun she had. Her mouth was half opened and her smile was wide and genuine. Some of the upper teeth were to be shown and her eyes were closed tightly as an innocent yet quite powerfull was echoing in the area. Let me tell ya started Fraha before interrupting herself again for a short gigle If you are a rapist you're quite lame said she joking as she was one meter from him. I'm Fraha... said she as a blush slowly spawned on her cheeks when she, instinctively looked at the whole man, seeing better in the shadows. She then realized that she had never seen a naked man before, a part of course her little brothers, but that was different. Fraha was now actually standing in a forest at night, alone with a man, a naked man. Fraha's eyes went to go down again so she quickly forced herself to turn in the opposite direction, smiling. "ehm, i'm lost yeah" She mentally facepalmed since it was obvious that she was nervous. She was never able to hide her emotions.