Closed Ayanna's Web(Ayanna)

[Richard Burke]

Winter 61, 512

It had been ten days since the fight with the stranger in red, but Richard still donned his plate on his walks, and carried the shield on with a leather belt, on his back, he wasnt going to be caught off guard again as he was that day. He still went to the temple of all gods, and offered thanks to the gods for his continued and blessed existence. This winter morning was no differant than the other, the crisp winter air refreshed the squire. His walks were shorter now, what was once a relaxed exercise had became a habbit, now the habbit was forced to change, he didnt really like having to wear the armor.

This morning, he was frustrated, frustrated that his schedual, and ritual had to be changed, by a brigand, and transient, Richard drew his sword, and cleanly sliced a notch into a tree, he sighed, and put the sword back in the scabbard. Being frustrated wouldnt help, so he tried to relax, to no avail. The he smacked the tree with fist, but that just hurt, and solved nothing. The sun had not yet poked over the eastern horizan, but the world was bathed in soft blues, and pinks.

The squire sat down at the base of the tree, it was already an unusual morning, he may as well enjoy relaxing for a moment. He was almost used to the weight of the armor though, wearing it almost all day gave him a new confidence and endurance over the other squires. Today, they would have to deal with slightly dirty armor when he trained, though after the first match it wouldnt make much of a difference.

He contemplated the day, and wondered what sort of chaos Lhex had in store for him.

[Ayanna]

Ayanna had been napping comfortably in the branches of a tree, naturally sprawled out among the sturdy branches she had been lulled into sleep by the quiet sounds of the forest and the feeling of safety being so high up gave her. She was awoken by something hitting her tree. Ayanna opened her eyes and looked down to the ground where a rather shiny male was pulling back a fist to slam it into her tree. Well that couldn't of felt too good.

Aya looked down at the man and slipped down the tree a little to get a better look at him. The man slumped down at the roots of the tree to sit down, which she wondered briefly how it was possible in all that armor he wore. She herself rarely dawned her own armor unless she was certain of trouble. And never if she was going to go climbing, it was not the most comfortable thing in the world.

She wondered at what her tree had done to incur the wrath of this boy, and she could tell he was a boy as she got closer. He looked to be young and the armor seemed to be wrong on him, armor was for knights. This boy could not possibly be a knight, perhaps he was a squire. She had seen them running around after their patron knights plenty of times in her stay in Syliras.
Ayanna descended farther down the tree until she was about seven feet above the boy. She pulled her hood over her head in a show of self consciousness.

Then she spoke. "What did the tree do to you?." she inquired, her voice whisper soft but still it carried. She was on a branch, perched with her long legs hanging over the edge of a thick branch and one hand resting on the tree, the other seemingly carelessly put on her lash. She was prepared for an attack, but the boy probably wouldn't notice that.

[Richard Burke]

Richard opened his eyes, trying to decide if what he heard was real, it was a soft whisper that seemed to dance on the squire’s ears, he could see no person who had addressed him though, he stood up, rather slowly and awkwardly with 50 pounds of armor strapped to him, maybe sitting wasn’t such a good idea. He stood, and sighed, he still couldn’t see where the voice had came from, was his mind playing tricks on him? Was it a spirit carried on the wind? His hand instinctively went to his sword, he didn’t draw it, but his left hand rested gingerly on the pommel, almost like a child holding a teddy tightly. Then, something caught his eye in the tree, a human shaped woman, dangling from the tree, almost 10 feet up.

Richard pursed his lips, slowly decided what to do. If the woman was a threat, she probably would have stuck when he was on the ground. She was striking, her eyes were not like any he had ever see, the arms seemed a bit out of proportion, it was unsettling, but did not detract away from the eyes. “The tree?” he started, still trying to accept the fact that this person had been able to sneak up on him, “The tree did nothing.” he continued slowly gaining his confidence, and standing back, “I suppose we all succumb to frustration, and anger sometimes.” He started to trail off, thinking back, and seeing how hated the knights were, and how much people would fight their authority, and how often they would try to destroy the city- his home, the home of his family, and the home to thousands of families.

“Were you sleeping in the tree?” he asked, still caught in his own thoughts, as they started a storm in his heart, “It was not my intent to wake you.” He shook his head, pushing away his indecision and failings. “But wouldn’t it be much safer inside the city?” he asked with genuine concern, he had seen camps of people, usually hunters, in the woods, but he saw no real camp, and though the woman was human shape, something about the arms made him consider that she wasn’t human. The knights guarding the gate would have let her in regardless, so her camping out in the cold winter days put the squire on guard.