[Bronze Wood] Staking Out A Territory (Open)

[Leo Varniak]

"Take the guts out..." Leo murmured, his mind measuring the problem and coming to realize he had made a mistake. He hardly ever had fish, and the thought of cleaning it did not even cross him. Besides, when he did this to evil people, he never bothered to gut them first.

Leo was unwilling to admit he had neglected such a basic fact, though. "It's... good for your health this way," he improvised, knowing all too well he was condemning himself to eating fish guts with her. He sat down on the proffered spot and handed Nya her fish as he proceeded to cook his own too. Was he hungry? Did he like fish? "I guess I am a little hungry," he conceded, though he barely paid attention to such things as hungers of the body.

He took a small bite off the fish. "This will do for today," he said. Clearly, he wasn't into food much. He didn't seem the type to get worked up over little things, though perhaps it was men like him who became the most terrible when something did unleash their enthusiasm, so to speak. Leo had his buttons - though, ironically, the unseen Symenestra would have been closer to finding out about them.

"My name is Leo Varniak," he offered quietly, in between his slow and methodical consumption of the fish. A flash of his mother telling him about the importance of introductions in polite society made him say that. "I live in Syliras, but I roam a little as the weather permits. I live off the odd job." That was it - twenty-four words to sum his life up. He was somewhat proud of the concise descriptiom.

Leo did not openly ask about her, because she didn't have to tell him. He figured she might be on the run from someone or something, and might not want to share the details. He barely concealed a twitch as his teeth sank into fish guts, but kept going regardless.

[Nya Winters]

Nya smiled and took the fish, politely eating the whole thing beliving what he said about it being good for her health to eat the fish whole. Nya had to agree. Fish was outstanding, and cooked fish was a rare treat. She didn't wolf the food down, but took a delicate stance to nibbling away at it watching to see if he ate his and then fussing when he didn't exactly dig in with gusto. Maybe he didn't like fish... maybe he didn't even remotely enjoy it. She wondered if he'd like hare better, or perhaps a fat pheasant. She could easily hunt for him and get him something he'd really like better. The kelvic studied the human's body language, watching his distant eyes and wondering what it would be like momentarily to see them crossed with mirth.

When he introduced himself, she took his name like a delicate offering and ran it across her mind as if testing it for strengths and weaknesses. Leo, it was short, like hers... and easy to remember. There was nothing pretentious about it. She almost liked it. His last name was different, as if it was something she ought to know about. But it was his next words that caught her attention. He was from Syliras and he worked multiple strange jobs. Absently Nya wondered why his jobs where odd and what constituted an odd job. Her mind flared with imagination and she wondered if he scraped mold from the sides of buildings, or perhaps he coaxed wool off sheep. More odd jobs sprang to mind. Maybe he wore the funny stilts and lit the lamps as darkness fell. Maybe he shined shoes or patched loosened cobbles in the street. Maybe he charmed snakes or sold live mussels from a cart down by the docks. Her eyes glittered at the thoughts that filled her head until his silence invaded her awareness.

Twenty four words spoke volumes to her. She was fascinated, though not with the overarching meaning to his words - that he was a drifter. She simply wanted to know what an odd job constituted. Nya was also polite. With her fish gone (and her looking for any pieces he might have forgot to consume - fins, the head) and her belly somewhat full, she politely offered him her name. "I'm Nya ... Nya Winters. My mother and father live in a tower near the Taldera boarder. It's still part of the Cobalts but its very far from here. They sent me here to learn something of the world and find a bondmate. My father claims my life will be useless until I find something to do with it, and that is the best course of action for our kind." Her talking was soft because she'd started licking her fingers slowly. The grooming was so cat-like that even someone who had never seen a cat grooming itself could not mistake it for any sort of human behavior whatsoever. When she finished her fingers, she moved onto her wrists and forearms, then absently stroked her face with the already cleansed arms.

"I'm not sure how I go about doing that. But I decided I'd better find a place to live first. There's a cave near here, a really nice one that I think would make a good home. I had to drive a pair of bobcats off to claim it, so it still smells like them. But once I get it cleaned out, some necessities filling it, I think it will make a good place to live. It's close to town too, but not too close. People aren't my favorite things sometimes." She said quietly, then stretched out. She acted completely as if she'd forgotten the need for clothing, and if the truth be known, there was none laying around that Leo could see. Nya's eyes drifted into a state of being half-closed, but her body was alert, tensing and relaxing methodically. He could tell the pose for all its dozing semblance was anything but.

"You said you live in Syliras... what is that like? Do you have a home there? I was going to go into the city and do some shopping for more garments, but there's so many people, and i get very nervous. I'm not very good at counting coin either, so I am afraid I will get cheated on the bartering." She said, plucking a piece of fern and playing with it. If someone truly did enjoy the wilds around them, they'd be hard pressed to find any fault with the stream and the large trees sheltering it. It was a wild paradise, strangely absent of alpha predators as the kevlic and human lounged quietly.

[Leo Varniak]

It was safe to say Nya could have at least the head and fins of Leo's fish. The young man looked slightly relieved that, at last, the torture seemed to have come to an end. Sometimes his pride truly was his downfall. He watched her more and more intently as she talked about herself, pieces of the puzzle falling into place and finally making sense. Leo thought he had a fair idea of who the girl was when he heard her talk about a bondmate, though he did not know much about her kind. These flashes of understanding always comforted Leo, who needed to place things into neatly labelled categories. There were good people, bad people... just a few marked boxes to cast your ballot into. He liked that he could fill in a few blanks about her.

"I see," he said, watching her groom herself without making a fuss. Leo was not one for immediate reactions unless one triggered his sense of justice; he much preferred to keep things on the back burner, let them simmer slowly and then get them out of the oven once they were well cooked. Even the search for Alvias, life-altering though it may be, he was taking his time with. He knew that, once something was burned, it could never go back to what it was - and so, it never hurt to wait a little.

He stroked his chin pensively. "Well, let us summarize this for the benefit of my poor mind," he began, "I think I have heard of your kind before. Not much, but a little. This thing about bondmates seems to ring a bell somehow. So you have been sent away from home and right now are living in a cave. That is... unusual, I believe."

He pictured her, naked in the middle of a Syliran street, grooming herself without a care in the world. No, that would be asking for trouble. She was obviously unsuited for any form of civilized life, and Leo didn't really know how to fix that. He had never even had a pet or anything of that sort. "We can safely say that you have something to learn about cities before you can spend time in one," he continued, slowly, pondering. He was making plans, exploring alternatives; the present did not exist for him, only pathways to the future. "Syliras is a city like any other... they just like to think they are better than everyone else."

He would never love Syliras... too many bad memories. Yet it was the only city where he could settle for any sizeable period of time. He tilted his head. "Nya, is it? It doesn't matter who you are, where you come from or why you are here. No-one will swindle another on my watch, ever." Leo was quite something when he made up his mind. The mere idea of some merchant being dishonest could make his blood boil. The thought of Allistir Varniak could do that to him, for the memory had never faded.

"You could come with me and do your shopping... if you cover yourself, that is. Life must be uncomfortable in that cave without tools and supplies." He wasn't going to suggest buying or renting a room in the city, though; if anything because she was nowhere near ready for the experience.

[Nya Winters]

She absently glanced over at him as he spoke. Leo's words amused her for he neither possessed a poor mind - but he didn't listen completely. Nya interrupted.

"I am planning on living in a cave, not living in one now. She corrected. I just found it and claimed it. It needs some things to become habitable, in that you are right. I do not need to be comfortable. I do prefer it though. Do you? And it is not unusual for my kind to be sent away from their homes. My parents let me live with them for almost two years. That is a long time." She said, her green eyes studying him openly now. He had avoided her question to him about his home and what Syliras was like.

"I have already been in the city. I know the rules. No fighting. No killing. Clothing required. Politeness required. The rules with people don't apply in the forest. The forest belongs to the animals. The forest is easier. Nya paused again, then continued speaking. I don't think you follow the rules either - not always. You have eyes that remind me of something with teeth and claws, and those sorts do not always follow the rules. They do not always have too. Even though from your scent I can tell your fully human, sometimes you forget that is what you are. Nya said softly, entirely human for just a brief instant.

She decided, after she spoke, what sort of eyes Leo had exactly.

Judging eyes. That's what it was. His eyes took in everything and judged what he saw, even though mostly his eyes were empty. Those that had such eyes felt more than most. Her mother had told her that when she was still small and curious as to why the traders that sometimes stopped at the tower sometimes had empty eyes. Her mother had told her simply it was because they were afraid, but valued coin more than their lives. They masked the fear behind indifference. Nya wondered if Leo hid fear. Her mother had explained that humans hid fear, greed, evil, and especially pain. She wondered for a moment if he'd judged her with his empty judging eyes. His statement about no one will swindle another on his watch... she wondered about. He didn't say her - as if it was personal. He made the statement blanket - open to all - impersonal. He was impersonal. That bothered her. And she wondered for a moment what he would look like with laughing eyes.

"I would like to come with you to shop. I have clothing... somewhere." She said rising and brushing leaves off the smooth skin of her legs. She glanced around as if deciding which way the said items would lie, then started moving. "But why would you offer? Why would you worry about swindlers? You do not even know me, Leo Varniak. I do not even know you." It never crossed her mind that he wouldn't follow as they spoke. Barefoot, with her hair still wet, she moved like she owned the woods around them skirting around ferns and padding confidently through the large timber. There was no real pathway, and although Leo was more at home in the city than in the woods, the going was easy for the trees were enormous sentinels watching over the pairs progression.

Nya smiled slightly as she walked, her eyes roaming and alert. She was at home here, confident, but moving slowly enough so the young man could keep up. The kelvic wondered how old he was, though he didn't seem to move with the pain of age or injury that older people sometimes did. Nya hadn't quite figured out how to determine age. She knew her parents were mature, and that Leo wasn't a child, but for all of that she couldn't pinpoint his age accurately. But she was curious about him. It was second nature to her to want to know people she was with. The instinct to those kelvic unbonded were particularly strong. She watched him walk, looking for flaws within him.

"I want to know something of you. Maybe why you avoid questions about yourself. I told you of myself." She said softly, breaking the soft noise of both their passage beneath the trees.

[Leo Varniak]

Leo did not immediately reply to Nya's remarks, because it just wasn't the way he worked. Perhaps she expected to get to know him faster because she had only been alive for so short a time. Almost two years... Leo was talking to what should have been little more than a toddler in human terms. He added just a single remark as she finished her speech. "Some rules exist just to dare you to break them. The problem is how to tell which rules you should break. If you can do that, you're a person. If you can't, you're an animal."

He stood and swept a few remnants of grass off his clothes, following the girl from a distance, not exactly tailing her but never straying far from her either. Taking his time, apparent laziness to the individual step but a hidden purpose to the greater walk. She asked him why he even bothered, why he would not tell her about himself. The answers - for a few answers were coming her way - would follow a few strides later. Whether she would enjoy them remained to be seen.

"Why would I offer even though I do not know you?" he murmured, as if pondering the weight of each individual word. "Let me ask you, how many people do you really know? Chances are, you will not need more than one hand, if that much. We live our lives and we barely scratch the surface of those around us. It is nobody's fault, really. I do not value those I have never met less than others. Though, you could probably read this the other way around and say I will not necessarily value people more for knowing them. Who knows, it may be true." He shrugged lightly. True knowledge of another was all but impossible. It could not be used as an objective basis of who should and shouldn't be helped. Only absolute imperatives made sense to Leo.

"There are many reasons people will not talk about themselves. Maybe there's not much to talk about. Maybe there is no pleasure in bringing it up. Maybe the other person would not understand, or worse yet, misunderstand." He walked on, relaxed and yet feverish if such a thing was even possible. "In my case, I'd rather speak ten words and let them be truthful than give out a hundred lies for the sake of small talk. But since you asked, I'll tell you something about myself after all."

He cleared his throat, as if signaling a shift in the tone of this odd conversation. "If you ask me what I believe in, I will tell you I believe in a just world. But that is just a part of the truth for me." He wondered if she would understand what he was going to say next. It was the very reason why he had no friends, the reason why he needed no friends, the reason why he needed nothing but his own convictions. "The reason I am offering you my help with the merchants is that I believe in a just world. But at the same time I don't. I could not live in a just world. Because I want those merchants to try and swindle you," he added, "so I can punish them for it."

[Nya Winters]

Nya absorbed everything Leo said. At times he bordered on offensive, for her Kevlic nature often lead her to believe animals were far more honest than people. They followed rules humans couldn't even remotely begin to understand. But it was not her place or duty to correct him. Leo Varniak would learn soon eough.

As for the people she knew, truly knew, besides her parents, there was no one. Growing up isolated in a remote region, the only visitors they got were traders or scholars. And her parents often kept her away from those sorts because they would not understand her ways and she could easily give offense. And in terms of friends within the region here, there were none. Nya knew absolutely no one though it didn't bother her much. She did miss talking to people, spending time with them, and the companionship of another. It was one of the reasons Leo was a welcome distraction to her in her woods.

Some of his words she understood better than others. His belief in a just world was not an easy concept for her, but it would be one, in time, she could adopt if he turned out to be the one she was looking for. He was human, so thoroughly human, it comforted her when he filled the air with his higher understanding and deeper beliefs. And he was alone. It wasn't something he had announced openly, but it was something that his body whispered with every step, every glance - and truthfully it was reflected in his dark guarded eyes. There was absolutely no trust in them, and in Nya's world that equated to need. People needed to trust. People needed others to rely on. Leo had none.

She watched quietly as he spoke further, continuing to walk through the woods towards her destination at his side. And then she smiled in understanding at his last, most profound words. It was ironic that the thing he doubted she would understand was the one thing she understood well. "Cat and mouse. You want to play cat and mouse to flush out your prey... men you think are dishonest and unscrupulous." Nya purred suddenly, excitement lightening her eyes. "I can do that and more.... I'm very good at mousing." She said softly, reaching out to bump Leo's shoulder with her own in a moment of pleasure. Then abruptly she turned, and began scaling the broken lower limbs of a pine that was already scarred by claw marks... large ones. There was a certain joy on Nya's face as she climbed - scaling the tree in just moments. She paused at a rather large upper branch then tossed down a leather backpack. A moment later she thudded down beside it, lightly in a half crouch. Excitement played across her face as she retrieved the backpack, opened it, and started removing its contents.

The girl wiggled into a pair of undergarments, completely unashamed to be throwing on clothes in front of Leo. Over the top of the silk went leather pants and a form fitting tank top. The pants were threaded with a belt which had a forest cat's head on it, eyes glittering with tigers-eye gemstones. Thick socks and tall boots went on next, then a cloak fell over the girls shoulders - but she immediately took it off, folded it back up, and stuffed it back into the backpack. The weather was far too hot for heavy cloaks anyhow. She slipped the backpack on, wiggled around until it was comfortable, and looked at Leo expectantly.

"Better?" She asked, wondering why humans were so uncomfortable when other people did not have coverings on their bodies. Nya loved looking at people who were unclothed. The form told so much about a person. Were they in good shape? Did they have wounds or old battle scars? Did they overindulge in sweets? Skin spoke volumes. She wondered what Leo's flesh would tell her.

"To Syliras now? It's not far from here..." She said, knowing it was still a good brisk half-hour walk until the road, then another good hour until they hit the main gates. But she liked it that way - and it was why she picked the Cobalts instead of the agricultural land to the south.

[Leo Varniak]

"Cat and mouse," he repeated, seemingly absent-mindedly but actually mulling it over in his mind. Cat and mouse. This girl had a talent for oversimplification, but Leo was momentarily at a loss for a reply. No, justice was not a mere rat hunt to him... Leo had a very high opinion of his mission. "But a cat seeks food as well as pleasure from the hunt," he said quietly. "I will not deny that I get satisfaction from the act, but certainly not a full stomach. I do not even bounty hunt for money. On the rare occasions that I do, I will not accept a reward." Not even so he could give it to charity. Leo was not a philantropist to begin with.

He watched her climb the tree absent-mindedly, pondering over the few things she had said. Was he really like a predator out for blood and nothing else? He had morals, though. He could tell right from wrong, which was what set people apart from animals. Though if a lion could have morals, that probably would be Leo. This girl was giving him strange thoughts, probably he was not used to having to discuss his lifestyle. Her attitude had driven him out and into a position he did not really want to be in.

He cast a brief glance at her now clothed form, and gave a nod. "Yes, that will do." Complimenting people, or making them feel appreciated, was not Leo's strong suit either. Seriously, he could care less about what people said. He had probably developed a worse reputation than the very human scum he chased - he was the kind of person who burned bridges without a second thought, for no other gain than to scatter the ashes.

Leo adjusted his clothes and tucked his hands in the pockets of his trousers. He was not going to show Nya his flesh anytime soon, that much was for sure. He cloaked his body from others just like he cloaked his mind, and that mark of Ivak he carried was no incentive in that direction, either. One was easily misunderstood when he carried the mark of the god who pretty much destroyed the world. But for all that he had given him power and saved his life, Leo was convinced that not even Ivak really knew him. No-one did, and he would make sure it stayed that way.

"To Syliras," he repeated in a lower tone of voice. "You will need to spend more time there if you ever plan on finding this bondmate you speak of. Granted, you are not necessarily better off with one." He paused and kicked a small rock out of the way with the least amount of energy that would get the work done. "If it works like the husband and wife thing, then it's most likely not worth it." He meant it - in his experience, nothing good came from an artificial union that was only eternal because law and custom said so. "All people want to be free. If you bind them, you take that freedom away... you should make sure you stand to gain more than you lose."

[Nya Winters]

She shook her head sadly then tilted it as he spoke. Nya dressed quickly, and waited until he started towards the city to comment on his statement. "You get something from the hunt. It might not be food to fill your belly but your soul need nourishment as well. The hunt fulfills something in you. You know that, else you would not hunt. There would be no need. Satisfaction is important. You think what you do needs doing, so you do it. There is a need, and you feel good fulfilling it. What could be simpler?" Nya said softly, smiling slightly as she did so. "Food is the best hunt of all though. We can get something sweet in the bazaar while we are there. They have rolls sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar there." She confessed, then smiled. "I can smell them from the gates, but I have never been brave enough to venture into the bowels of that castle to see the bazaar." She said, then watched him carefully.

Nya touched his shoulder, then looked thoughtfully at Leo. She touched a great many things as she moved, and one could tell she was a tactile creature. She walked swiftly, easily, through the woods towards the road. And she talked openly, unafraid of his judgment of her. Nor did she weigh his words or offer too much of a judgment over what he said.

Leo spoke about spending more time in Syliras, but she wrinkled her nose. She would spend time there if it pleased whomever she was with, but her natural instinct was to steer completely clear. Utterly clear. The forest had all she needed - except people. "It is not that I want one, a bondmate that is. I need one. I... it is hard to explain. You would need to be Kelvic to understand. It is simply that I would feel better with someone to take care of, to guard over, to fuss about. It is not like a marriage. My parents were married, but they had love between them and each served needs the other had. I have good parents. Strong parents. They are well mated. I am not looking for a mate. I am not old enough anyhow. I am looking for someone who needs my help. That is all. I do not want to bond with someone to take away their freedom. I want to bond with someone to allow them to be more free. I will gain much when I do. There are places inside my people that are empty unless they have someone to help. It is like a mother without a child. But a bondmate is not a child. They are serious people. Adults. Important." Nya said gently. To her, there was nothing embarrassing about what she talked about. Life was life, everyone experienced it.

"What about you, Leo? What do you need out of life? This judgment and punishment? This equality? Are you sure that is all you need?" Nya purred low in her throat and stepped out onto the road. Syliras was visible in the distance. She inhaled deeply, staring first down the road one way and then another. Her stance was protective and watchful, her demeanor having changed from frolicking playful to predatory and guarded. Leo could tell she was nervous around people and society in general. The change was as different as day and night. At the same time though, she crowded him, hovering almost protectively.

"Why Syliras? Why are you here?" She asked suddenly, scenting the air again then wrinkling her nose before finally starting to move. The Kelvic ranged out in front of Leo, then behind him... to one side of the road, then another, exploring even as they moved towards the city.

[Leo Varniak]

Leo did not speak in reply to Nya's statements. To him, that particular topic was exhausted as he would never compare his justice to a mere hunt for food. It was probably something they would agree to disagree on, as both seemed rather stubborn creatures in their different ways. When she mentioned actual food, though, he seemed to speak in agreement for once. "That would be a good idea. Anything that could make me forget the fish would be good." As Nya had correctly surmised, to say Leo had not enjoyed their meal was an understatement.

He did not make a fuss over her touching his shoulder. Maybe he did not mind, maybe he did not care; it was always difficult to tell with Leo. Maybe he hardly paid any attention to what he deemed unworthy of it. He had no need to dart around the road to feel safe; he did not look like a rich man, and if he happened to meet a brigand, as could happen even in Syliras, the brigand would burn. A few times before, if they were particularly evil or threatened him by counting the people they'd killed, Leo had left them alive in the woods, with burns that were sure to be fatal. Leo knew how that worked. You had to focus on a broad area but spare the vital organs. He'd abandon them in the forest, leaving them enough time to repent if they so wished.

Leo was very fair. Meaning he was very cruel.

He listened on, eyes narrowing in distaste at Nya's description of bondmates. He listened as she told him that it was in her very nature to seek someone to aid, that she would feel incomplete unless she found this special soul whom she was to assist. And well before her speech was over, Leo had already made his judgment. He shared it shortly afterwards.

"Whoever created your kind was a monster," he said calmly, still generalizing Nya to her entire race. "I would wish for nothing more than to watch them burn and writhe before my eyes. They took things that were meant to be separate and merged them, giving and taking as they deemed fit. They made it so your life depended on another." Leo found that disgusting. "If your feelings are dictated by someone else, it is as if they were fake. I think I feel sorry for you. Someone tampered with your soul, and I can't even kill them."

"Syliras is where I was born," he continued pensively, "I do not need this place. I am here because I happened to be here first, and have not found a better place to stay as of yet. That is all there is to it. I don't need it. I have very few needs." He was silent for a little bit and then resumed. "I remember staring at the fire a lot when I was little. I remember watching a big log being thrown into the fire once. The fire was weak at first, it just caressed the bark and tinged it with darkness. There was smoke... it coiled into little rings. Then the flame picked up and started making a dent in the wood. They criss-crossed the bark like so many little wounds, and you could start to see the inside as it reddened. I liked how the tiny flames slipped into the cracks and ate at the wood, how it slowly splintered under its own weight. I liked that, for those brief minutes, you could see the rings in the wood. Its secrets were exposed. It was satisfying, and then it collapsed and it was over."

"I need to do that to people. Not just the fire, I mean. I need to open people and see what they have inside. I am not sure why. But this happiness everyone speaks of," he concluded, "I have never felt it. So, it makes me curious and I pry people open. If I dislike what I see, I burn them in the name of justice. Then I start over. That is all there is to me, Nya Winters. Are you sorry you asked?" He had told her at last - something more about himself. About the thing called Leo Varniak, at least.

[Nya Winters]

Leo hadn't appreciated the fish, nor had he even bothered to keep the fact to himself. That saddened her and slowed her steps so that she eventually walked beside him. Her footsteps were heavy, less carefree than her delight of a moment ago, and even the delight of a promised snack at the bazaar. And since Leo was silent, she assumed he was thinking of fire again. He got a certain dangerous look on his face and she didn't like it at all.


When he spoke of who created the Kelvic as a monster, and how much he despised them and what he'd do to them and the pleasure it would bring - Nya knew then that Leo wasn't well. Nya had no idea who had created the Kelvics. She always assumed it was the Gods, and if he felt like this about her maker or makers, then how must he feel about her? Would he burn her too? The forest cat trapped in human form knew even more sadness then. This man was one that would never be a true friend. This was a man she'd never grow close too, one that had no needs other than his beloved fire. And he was a person that she had so little in common with - one so entirely judgemental - that she was wasting her time completely spending it with him. Hadn't he said openly he simply wanted to use her?

Nya didn't respond at all to his comments. How could she? His mind was made up and there was obviously no changing it. Little did it matter how happy she was being the way she was, nor that her existence harmed nothing of his. Nya had been warmed about people like Leo... their intolerance and arrogance. Her thoughts busied themselves with trying to figure out how to get away from him. He had called her maker a monster, but Nya was starting to believe Leo himself was the monster. What else would she call him - he judged so harshly and lived life in such extremes.

He spoke more and she watched him without curiosity in her eyes. Her gaze was blank now, fathomless, closed to him. Nya was wary of Leo now, of his harsh judgments and his preconceived notions. He didn't know her. He didn't even care about her as a person, not really... other than if she fit into some sort of neat category in his life - acceptable or one that needed to be judged by fire.

Nya gave him a wide space between them even as he kept walking, slowly moving further and further away until there was space for three or four people between them. When he started speaking again, she nodded. The things he said about Syliras made sense. There was nothing unreasonable about it. But then he spoke of fire, and she knew that was all that was in his heart. Fire to her wasn't what it was to Leo... to him it was something holy something cleansing. To her it was functional. You cooked over it or used it to keep warm. But to Leo, it somehow advanced him permission to look over people, decide whether they had the right to live or die. And he didn't do it in the name of food.

That was sacrilege to her. That was an abomination. He dealt death because he didn't like the way people lived or thought. "No, I'm not sorry I asked." She said softly, so quietly that she might well not be heard. It was the first thing she'd said since he started speaking. Nya closed her eyes and let a small breeze tickle her hair playfully, though she didn't respond to its teasing. Normally she would have questioned it, learned more about it, and frolicked with it. Now though, there was not much else to say. If Leo was trying to alienate her, he'd done a good job. Because she wasn't sure what to say now or what to do. She still had shopping to do, but she didn't want to do it with someone who would measure her every action, and if he decided one or two of them were lacking, he'd burn her to the ground.