Completed [The Kabrin Road] A new journey

[Vassarka Oleander]

Timestamp: Midday, 80th of Spring 513 AV

Vassarka slowed her horse to a halt, and sighed heavily. She was exhausted after the hot sun of the day, and wanted nothing better than to rest for an hour or two. Dismounting from her ride, she led the horse slightly off the path, and stroked his nose. "Now, what should I call you?" she murmured gently. The horse itself was black with a dark mane, however the mane had a streak of white gold in it. "Perhapsss you're a tad Ssseme" Vassarka murmured. The mane was like a flash of light in an otherwise dark setting. A flash...Flash! "That'sss what I'll call you!" Vassarka smiled at the horse, as she gently tied her to a tree, not too far from the road, and removed the bow and arrows from the saddlebag. She glanced up at the tree, and attempted to grab onto the first branch. She missed, and tried grabbing onto the side of the tree insted. She found it surprisingly easy, seeing as the last time she had climbed was Before. After getting several feet in the air, Vassarka glanced upwards, moving her hand to shade it from the sunlight. However, as soon as she had done that, she tumbled down again, falling hard on her rear. So close! Giving up, Vassarka decided to take a nap in the shade of the tree, with her bow and arrow by her side.

[Vassarka Oleander]

Vassarka stirred in her sleep, and felt something tickling her nose. "Get off..." she murmured, and flickered her eyes open. It was just a long blade of grass. Going cross-eyed, Vassarka eyed it lazily, then her eyes opened wide. It was almost dark! How long had she been asleep for. She grabbed her bow and arrow and stood up, her long dark hair falling in her face. Irritatedly, she tossed it aside and cautiously glanced around the side of the stout tree she had been leaning on as she slept. Relief hit her like a soft wave of water, there was nobody there. She let her long, elegant arm drop, and padded over to Flash, who was happily grazing away, his eyes almost closed. She needed to get a move on, at this rate she would never be too far from Syliras, and when the night drew in she wanted to be further away from the city, where the woods were reportedly full of bandits. Mounting up and slinging her bow and quiver onto her back, Vassarka dug her heels into Flash and begun the trot back to the road. Once she was on the road, she ascertained her bearings and started North again. She was quite hungry, and as she was riding, she removed the bottle of Symenestra soup from her pack and took a long gulp, then looked into the bottle anxiously. She had a weeks supply, but the ride had been tiring, and her supply for today was low. If she was going to consume more than she had expected then she had better start gathering more fruit to make some more soup. Or could she... Vassarka had known about the eating habits of the majority of Symenestras for a long time, but Mamma had always forbidden her from eating flesh. But now that Mamma was gone... With this thought in mind, Vassarka smiled, and capped the bottle, her eyes now alighting on any moving creature and imagining how it tasted...purely out of curiosity of course. It wasn't as though she would ever kill anything, was it?

[Zaed Martel]

Zaed trotted down the road, drawing his coat closer to his body. The day had been warm certainly, but the slight chill in the air now as the sun sunk below the horizon caused him to shiver in his saddle. He gave Ally a nudge. For a moment, she refused to step up the pace, but a firmer touch ensured the message was received. It was as Zaed was calculating in his head the hours that he had been travelling, that he saw movement ahead on the road. He had been traveling north for many hours now from Syliras, and hadn't encountered another traveler. Caution scratched at his shoulder. He shrugged it away. Giving Ally another nudge, followed by a furthur one, the stubborn girl... he made his way briskly towards the traveler.

[Vassarka Oleander]

Vassarka whipped around, and brought Flash to a halt. She could hear the faint sound of horse hooves, which meant either another innocent traveller... or a bandit. Although it was getting dark she could still see that it was a humanoid figure on horseback, although to look at them they were very short with slightly blue skin. Not a human then. She pulled her bow out, and drew an arrow from its quiver, prepared to fight if necessary, but waiting until she could see them more clearly before notching the arrow. After all, her sight was an extra advantage to her.

[Zaed Martel]

Zaed drew closer, taking a moment to try and distinguish the figure in front of him. With a shock he noticed the bow and arrow in the figures hands. He grinned. "Hail traveller!" He called out, "I mean no harm, I seek only company on the road." He continued nudging Ally forwards. Drawing level with the rider, he peered under their hood and saw that it was a woman. Reaching down to pat Ally's neck, he turned his body towards her and tried to show her through body language that he meant no harm, after all, he didn't even know if she spoke the common tongue...

[Vassarka Oleander]

Vassarka watched cautiously as the figure approached, waiting to see if he had anything to say to himself. He spoke, hailing her, then drew closer. She lowered the bow and took note of his exaggerated body language. He probably thought that she didn't speak the common tongue, an idea she was all too happy to endorse. He probably didn't know Symenos, and wouldn't even recognise it if he heard it. "What are you saying?" she said in the soft tones of the language, expecting the other not to reply.

[Zaed Martel]

Zaed frowned for a moment and listening to the woman's words could have sworn she had spoken in Symenos. He was hardly fluent in it, infact, his knowledge was restricted to a few common phrases learnt while working at the docks in his teen years. He struggled for a moment, trying to recall words he had long forgotten and finally forced out in Symenos, "Friend while travel?"
He winced at his attempt at communication, knowing the words were most likely wrong.

[Vassarka Oleander]

What? The stranger spoke Symenos? He was clearly not a Symenestra, but she understood what he was saying. He wanted to be her friend...well, it would be more like a temporary allience. Vassarka smiled with her lips, taking care not to show her fangs and drew back her hood. "That would be excellent" she said, reverting back to the common tongue. "Might I know your name?" She was intrigued, what kind of person would just walk up to her and ask to be her 'friend'? She hadn't had many friends in Syliras. Most people avoided Symenestra like her, partially because of fear but also because they were one of the least popular races in the whole of the city. Despite her curiosity though, she still didn't trust him.

[Zaed Martel]

Zaed nodded, pleased that he had achieved communication with her, no matter how basic it had been. He gratefully returned to common tongue. "Call me Zaed," he replyed, "And your name? I'll admit, i've not seen very many Symenestra before, what are you doing near Syliras?"

[Vassarka Oleander]

Vassarka let out a light laugh, although beneath her bravado there was a touch of nervousness. "Sssymenestra? I don't know what you mean." she said coldly. "I'm near Syliras because...I lived there, Zaed." she emphasised his name. "And you?"