[Flashback]Once upon a time...[Nai'shee]

[Ndale Soromund]

Season of Summer, Day 4, 509AV She knew of Avalis and of Laviku, what precisely it was they did she could not remember though. She vaguely recalled being told of them but she had never truly paid it much mind, some things she wished to know about and others, she felt, simply did not pertain to her. Religion was definitely one of those things. All the same, she had been did not have the urge to go the library either, she was sure what she had most people would term as boredom but it wasn’t so complex. The strain on her eyes had simply worn on and prompted her to entertain the idea of buying a patch for her wandering eye. But for lack of anything better to do she had ended up wander straight through the center of Zeltiva and it was then that the large stone statue of Laviku stared at her. It was strange. Though she held no interest in him or what he stood for she could not tear her eyes away, he looked human. Startlingly so, but he was not human any more than she was. Reaching out she ran her fingertips along the base of the statue, noting other people also staring at the statue curiously or maybe it was her they stared at. It did not bother her so much, though she wished they would quit asking if she was a Konti. Her attention shifted though as she began to feel a small prickle of sweat line her neck, making her jacket stick and itch uncomfortably. Frowning at the sky briefly she began to shed her jacket and tossed it to the floor, the faint clank of the coin purse following as she continued to stare at the statue. There was a puzzle of some sort there, she felt something she couldn’t quite name but to figure it out she would stand there all day if she had too.

[Nai'shee]

Nai'shee took a careful walk trough a city. She looked at every face and walked rather slowly. It was for two reasons. First one was the fact she didn't have any money, due to yesterdays failure at work, and second was the fact she didn't really informed her customers. They are leaving tomorrow anyways, so there's no need to go into dangerous situations like that. But, anyways, nobody will pay if she doesn't bring him what he wants, so she was starving now. To make things worse, even in summer, when it was more often for people to sail to Zeltiva, she won't find any job soon. She will have to rob people or steal food from Zeltivans. Those were two things she hated to do the most. She didn't want to have enemies, at least in this city and she never knew is she stealing from a silly nobleman who decided to pretend to be middle class to hide from criminals in such a big city or from poor Konti running away from some slaver. Speaking of Konti, she just noticed a woman who seemed to be one. But what she quickly spotted were her red eyes. Their color was scary and wild to Nai'shee. She have never seen red eyes like that, even Vanthas rarely had this color, and she had purely white hair anyways, not their black with waves of Aurora. But she had no time for conversations like now, so she decided to ignore her. However, girl obviously didn't allowed ignoring. She nervously threw her jacket at the ground and sound of clanking coins focused Nai'shee back at her. She knew it was her chance, but there was too many people... It might be easier if woman didn't do it. However she waited until she was behind her and then she walked straight to her jacket without any hesitation, naturally. She took a jacket with her right hand, innocently saying: "Excuse me, is this yours?" While she was at it she slowly took few Mizas from the pocket and transfered them to her pocket. Unfortunately she just noticed she took something else, as well, but it was too late now, woman turned around an looked at her.

[Ndale Soromund]

She was absorbed in her musings, her mind far away from where her bodies was but the jacket was close enough that know would try anything. Though in retrospect it was probably not in her best interest to toss all her belongings on the ground because that was the only money she had and while the Zeltivans were mostly desirable people—whatever that meant—they would obviously steal. And so when she seen that body reaching for her jacket she did not register that it was a person, an angry shriek leaving her lisp that sounded startlingly similar to her bird forms cry. Her body jumping awkwardly and slamming into the statue’s base as she turned to face the woman in from of her, “Don’t touch!” “Excuse me is this yours?” Her words reached Ndale’s ears only after she made a scene but the tension did not her, instead she snatched her jacket and hugged it to her. This was her first larger city besides the other two and she did not want to think of those. Aware of the eyes watching Ndale curled in on herself a bit, her eyes narrowed angrily. The woman’s eyes were some form of blue, they stared back into her own and it took a few moments for her instinctual panic and aggravation to die down. Her breath stopping its short bursts and slowly to a more languid pace along with her skittish heartbeat, once she managed to regain some semblance of her mind she reenacted it carefully, her eyes searching over the young woman’s face with interest. Ndale’s reaction was one she had only experienced once before, she would need to catalogue this! Was this what all humans felt when threaten? Or was it her own animal’s heritage’s reaction to invasion of territory by another female? “I put it there on purpose.” She finally spoke in answer to the question, watching the crowd disperse when nothing else of interest happened but her gaze was jerked back to the human quickly, there was something off. She wasn’t sure what, the woman was smiling and obviously not hostile like she had first assumed. Still holding her jacket to her chest but in a much looser manner Ndale crept up to the woman, invading her space as she stared her up and down. What was it? “Odd.” But there! That was what was bothering her, the woman’s hand was shoved in her pocket. But it wasn’t anger that surged through Ndale at her discovery, a grin slipping onto her face as she reached her hand towards the woman’s pocket, “Give me my coins.”

[Nai'shee]

Nai'shee couldn't help but smile at the fact she has been discovered. She wanted to just give her back her coins, but there were two problems in whole scheme. First, Zeltivans must not know that she's a thief. And second, she didn't have any money. She could bare with the second one, if there wasn't the first one, but as long as there are people looking, she must act. "Excuse me?", she asked, "What are you talking about?" She looked straight into her eyes, which was necessary for the show, but that angry red eyes scared her. She understood she won't get away with this, so she continued. A relief and shock filled her face. "Mairi!", she said the random name, pretending to recognize the woman. "I haven't seen you since... how long has it been?", she expected to get usual answer, that she replaced her for someone else, so she jumped and hugged her. She have seen woman's instincts woke in the very moment she jumped, but she was to confused to react. "Play along", she whispered in her ear, "and you'll get them back. I don't want anything serious, just to get away from public. It's Nai'shee." With that she could just hope woman will agree to play along. She let her go, still looking at her as an old friend. "So, how did you end up in Zeltiva? You didn't seem like traveling a lot... I can show you the city if you would accompany me..." she ordered their direction, still looking at womans eyes, begging her to follow. If she doesn't she'll just have to keep pretending, maybe she could tell she replaced her for someone and deny any crime. "So?"

[Ndale Soromund]

“Excuse me?” She sounded so confused but Ndale had felt something in her pocket when she reached out, “What are you talking about?” Their eyes locked and the words the words poised on the tip of Nadle’s tongue melted form a second, her breath coming out in a small puff. They were such nervous eyes. Though she smiled and spoke with no menace or ill intent or least Ndale guessed she did but she found that flat out asking a person what they were feeling got many results. And usually not the ones she was looking for. “Mairi! I haven’t seen you since…how long has it been?” Once more she was cut off before she could speak, the woman was quicker than her when it came to speaking! But that was not her main concern, her main concern was the panic that surged through her at the sudden contact. The young woman’s whole being surging towards her and evolving her. Her teeth gnashed and her legs twitched violently in response, already attempting to kick but the woman’s voice was soft and calming in her ear. Stopping the knee jerk reaction she had to the attack, or was it an attack? “So, how did you end up in Zeltiva? You didn’t seem to like traveling a lot…I can show you the city if you accompany me…” Strange, she did not know this ‘Nai’shee’ but she seemed to know much about Ndale. That was interesting, the whole ordeal was utterly fascinating. She was sure the woman was ‘acting’ something humans did often to get out of trouble. Maybe she should learn from her. Her coins could wait a few more moments. Smiling a little too widely and speaking a little too loudly Nadle answered, “I got here by the boat! No! I do not like travel." She then proceeded to copy the woman’s earlier actions and wrap her in arms around her briefly; she thought it was pretty good for her first attempt at this ‘acting.’ "Show me around!"

[Nai'shee]

She led her to the little street, heading to The Old Quarter, that was the place to show, but she used little empty streets that might seem scary to some noble who is used to luxury and peaceful places, but not to her, and she doubt about this woman. If she wanted to get her coins so badly, she probably wasn't rich. When they were far enough from The Laviku Monument she took few coins she thought she successfully stolen and gave them back. "Sorry about that", she said, not with much shame, but honestly. "I probably could've found better target", she added with a smile. "Would you allow me to lead you around, anyways?"

[Ndale Soromund]

She wasn’t quite sure where they were going but she followed Nai’shee through the crowd, it was thinning out the farther they walked and she kept close, fearing to get lost. She was not expert to the roads and paths of Zeltiva, in fact, she wasn’t sure if she even knew how to get home. They stopped in an area she was unfamiliar with, it looked a little like the haunted places that people whispered of and fled from when the sun was gone. Still it did not bother her so much as intrigue her, they were only empty houses and buildings, neither her hearing nor her sight picked up anything odd about it. As her gaze wandered it was jerked back to the woman’s outstretched palm and took her coins, tucking them carefully back in her purse and then inside her jacket. “Sorry about that, I probably could've found better target." “Yes. You could have.” Still if the woman was willing to steal, something that was so frowned upon she must be very poor indeed, not that Ndale herself was rich but she felt a twinge of something. Pity? Wasn’t that what humans felt when they, well, felt sorry for others? She nodded to herself, yes that must be it. "Would you allow me to lead you around, anyways?" Was the woman trying to steal from her again or was she being, what was the word for it? Kindly? Gently? Ah! Right, Friendly. The woman was being friendly, at least from her smile she seemed friendly. She could be wrong. “You may.” Before she could express where she wished to go another thought flitted past her lips, though it was more rhetorical she still wished for an answer, “What attack was that?”

[Nai'shee]

"We are already on our way", she explained with a big smile. She really hoped she could help to this newcomer to find herself in Zeltiva. It was beautiful city and it deserved people like her. She maybe seemed bored and strict, but yet the fact she allowed her to lead her around, even nor Nai'shee tried to rob her told her that she was friendly and trying to be kind. However, her cold words were a little disturbing. After her question she got completely confused. Which attack? Did she mean robbing? Or maybe convincing her to follow? No, she definitely didn't mean such a things, it would be really weird. After she pulled whole meeting trough her head she knew something smelled, but wasn't sure which part. "Attack? I'm sorry, what are you talking about?"

[Ndale Soromund]

“You knowing!” Excitedly she found herself chattering in Kontinese before catching herself and switching over. Some spoke the language here but many didn’t and she was hard pressed to learn Common. Carefully she spoke, sounding out the words slowly in her mind before speaking, her arms repeating the earlier gesture but only the air was victim this time. “This. It is an attack, yes?” Another thought came to her as rapidly as the first, “Stealing?” The word entailed all her questions into one, inching herself closer to the other person as if the proximity would make her thoughts known. At the same time she was inspecting the girl, on Mura there had not seen many other people, not even many other Konti. She stayed indoors on the small property in the back, content to laze about in her peahen form, she had much to learn. But her attention was divided, torn between learning this new place and learning the new woman, so much and she could not even communicate properly. Ignoring her mild frustration she lightly tugged at Nai’shee’s arm and swung her other arm to encompass the area, “What is this place called?”

[Nai'shee]

"Oh, no", she murmured from the depths of womans shoulders, "it was a hug". She was a bit confused. How come somebody would mistake a hug for an attack? Maybe this woman lost memory or lived in wilderness... wait... wilderness... what if she was Klevic? Haha, that would explain a lot, Nai'shee thought. She decided not to make fuss or ask if she was Klevic for now, so she just explained. "You know, that's what we do when we're glad we see somebody after a while or when we like somebody or sometimes if we're sorry for him. I pretended you're an old friend, so I had to do that." "This?", she asked when she heard woman's question. She got a bit lost in thought about her race, so she forgot they're already there. "Oh, The Old Quarter! There are the most important buildings, or the oldest, or the most interesting for tourists... the point is - buildings in Zeltiva. I'll lead you around... I guess you're interested in University the most after all, we're known for fish and science." She smiled for a second at her own words. It was mostly true, that was what people wanted to see, The Docks, The University and The Temple of Laviku.