[Flashback] And then she grew hooves [Pygmy]

[Amon]

Timestamp: 50th of Fall 509 AV It was a whim that held a certain reason behind it as well. This little journey from Wind Reach was something Amon and Sakima had anticipated at one point in their lives, but the reason behind it was far more personal. He had received a request from an Avora friend who had wished for his shipment of bows and arrows be taken to his cousin’s home who fared in Syliras. Amon had complied out of kindness, but when he began packing his things he couldn’t help but have his heart race at the prospect of seeing a new land. It would be the first time in the 12 years he had been an Endal where he would leave the sanctity of Wind Reach. He took the necessary supplies with him; rations of food that would last him the week’s time to Syliras, his katinu, his bryda, his leather boots suited for flight and for traversing the landscapes as well as the package of weapons. The flight had been refreshing and an amazing experience, but once he stepped foot inside the walls of the grand city, he was bombarded by the immense culture shock. He found that he received several stares from a great variety of people, although he left Sakima to wander and hunt what he could in the surrounding Cobalt Mountains so as not to cause a fuss. At once he began navigating his way past the mass of people, the stores, the taverns and the various buildings lining the area. His eyes roamed to take in every inch of it, for this would perhaps be the only time he would ever step foot in such a city again. But the package he held in his arms threatened to cause him to trip at any moment. No matter, he wouldn’t mind breaking a bow or two to become immersed in the atmosphere of the place. Smiles and grins, that’s all he gave to the people that passed, as they watched the strange fiery haired invader fumble with his things. Maybe this was a bad idea, Sakima, I can hardly concentrate long enough to find this damn house. You’re fault for being so unnecessarily nice. The view up here isn’t as great as the one back home. I’m sure, but these people… They have no castes, nothing. They just roam as equals. Quite entertaining, really. Bah, why bother with their ways? So confusing and unorganized. Amon smiled inwardly, stopping beside two shops to rest against the wall of the building. The bow strapped to his back dug into his shoulder blades, but he was far too tired to do much about it. “What a day…” He mumbled.

[Dhanya]

Who would've known you could run out of money so quickly? She had a store but she couldn't spend it, she needed it for a horse. Running away from Zeltiva on foot wasn't the safest way to go about things and you couldn't travel so easily with a caravan if you didn't have a hoofedy creature along. A fast, hoofedy creature, anyway. She couldn't lunk all her worldly possessions while she was a goat. She was stuck, or so it seemed, sitting on some working man's front doorstep and ignoring the hunger pangs.

She was already making plans for how to spend her night, there was a pub around the corner that opened soon enough. She'd be able to find a friend and a place to stay once the night wore on. She'd been surprised at how easy it had been to make a habit of it.

And lo' before her stood a gentleman with hair as striking as her own eyes, looking lost and foreign.

"Hey, red, you know where you going?" She called out, thinking that at least she'd talk to him because it was hard to find a face worth looking at in Syliras, as far as she was concerned.

He wasn't quite far away enough to miss that there was something going on with her features. Had he stepped closer he would have found vertical pupils that seemed to rise up around the iris like mountains. Animal eyes.

[Amon]

And then came the salvation that greeted his already buzzing ears. He looked over at the caller, wondering who even had the audacity to call him “red”, and he paused for a moment, wondering if his hair really did stick out like a sore thumb amongst the brunette’s, blonds and blacks of the city. He moved closer, a brow quirked. Yes those eyes were definitely worth looking at. He was transfixed, if not in awe at them. Maybe she was a wizard who decided to screw with her eyes? No he kicked the notion out of his head, and instead decided to respond to her like any normal, pleasant person would. He hoped, then that his Common would be as feasibly possible to understand. “Unfortunately, I do not..” He looked around him. Of course his sense of direction in a ridiculously large city wasn’t the best in the lot. “You live here? I could use help, to be honest.” Kicking the box over as he approached her, he tapped his temple and shook his head. “Apologies. My…” He racked his brain for the word, “Name, my name is Amon. I come from Kalea, quite far.” He held his hand out for a customary shake. “Your name?”

[Dhanya]

Pygmy rested her chin on her hand as Amon approached, watching him with a smile and the careful stare of a woman alone. She'd never seen hair of such a shade before. It was bright as fire.

"I don't exactly live here, been here a while though. I should know where you're looking for." Pygmy had taken to trying to sound less Zeltivan, her patterns of speech becoming forcibly looser.

When he offered his hand, she placed hers on top delicately. She knew full well that he was offering a friendly clasp of the hand. Pygmy had learned quickly from the city and her first lesson had been that it was better to be disarming than disarmed. She was finding her way through being purposefully obtuse. The confusing had more time to hide their own confusion.

"Charmed, I'm sure." She said, as if waiting for him to give her hand a kiss. "I'm Pygmy, doesn't matter where I'm from, now I'm here."

She smiled more widely, flashing teeth.

"Doesn't matter where you're from either, Amon. Walk with me?" She asked, standing.

He was an interesting man, she had a feel for it. She just had to hide the fact that she was struggling through the city as much as any creature. She was safer that way.

[Amon]

He nodded at her response, a smile creeping up on his lips before he spoke. “If you insist, I won't object.” He wrapped his fingers around her small hand, nearly grinning. It wasn’t lost on him her girlish charms, but she seemed far different than what he was normally used to, what with those unnerving eyes and all. Unfortunately he was going to have to disappoint her as he dropped his hand after a quick shake. He hefted his package up on one knee. “I am looking for the house of a friend. He lives somewhere here…” Obviously. He kicked himself mentally, what a stupid thing to say. And then a pause. Sakima gave a soft chuckle that tickled the edges of his mind. Did she just call herself Pygmy? She did indeed. How odd. Amon shook his head, but continued grinning all the same. “It is a pleasure, Pygmy, you are quite the lovely young lady. “ He obliged to her request to walk with her, but the box of supplies he was carrying made his gait seem rather loaded. “I have been carrying this thing for ages… But this city is just… so distracting, no?” Those azure eyes of his absorbed their surroundings once again. “It was a miracle I found Traveler’s Row.” A pause, she seemed on the defensive more than anything as far as he could tell. “Tell me, are there any interesting places to visit in Syliras?”

[Dhanya]

Flattery was not effective against a great many number of sensible people. Pygmy was not one of those people. She was a young woman who had only been gone from home for a month and some days. Amon might have seen just how young, when her face lit up as Amon told her she was lovely.

"I suppose that depends on whether you'd buy me dinner if there were any interesting places..."

And yet, she had a certain shrewdness. Hunger had sharpened natural inclination and she should have been grateful that she'd been born a goat. That nature had likely saved her life when she'd first arrived at Syliras. It was not the kindest city for young runaways, especially the girls.

"So, your friend's place or dinner first? I'm not sure I could walk too far without dinner, my memory goes to pieces when I'm hungry!" Her voice was as flippant as it could be and she was not backwards at all about expressing her own desires for the evening.

Her stomach growled loudly and she covered it with a cough. She hadn't eaten that day. She wanted to be fed without revealing her own desperation. Pygmy would have rathered be an eccentric beggar than a pleading one. She hoped that Amon would prove an accomodating sort, she wasn't naive. She knew how to be accomodating herself.

[Amon]

Why she was just a child to his eyes! Amon shook his head slowly, smiling all the same. She was the most interesting thing amongst all the people and places in Syliras, at least in his mind, and he enjoyed her company for the most part. He chuckled at her subtle request to be fed. He had plenty of money to waste, might as well treat someone as well as himself. However to think that he would be able to tell which buildings stored food and which were considerable more shady was difficult. “Of course, a meal for someone so sociable as yourself couldn’t hurt. Pick a place and we will eat there, I am sure my friend can hold off for a while longer.” He carted up the box in his hands. It was heavy, but what was a couple more steps lugging it around? He didn’t mind the interaction with Pygmy, because all in all, this was a whole new experience for him, and the girl was just as fascinating as he probably was to everyone else.

[Dhanya]

If he had not been sure before, Amon would have surely realised then that he had found a friend for life. Pygmy's smile was now close to overtaking her face, replacing all other expression with pearly white teeth.

"There's a place that sells roast vegetables down the street, they have ten thousand kinds of beer on tap." Pygmy didn't know what hyperbole meant. "It's good food!"

The also sold meat but she wasn't about to comment on that. She'd only been relieved to discover they sold mutton instead of goat. The devil surely was in the details. Pygmy wasn't ever going to eat her own.

She led Amon down the street, not offering to take his package though it would have been polite. She still considered labour to be men's work, though months ahead would teach her otherwise. Amon would have felt lost among the twisting streets, which all seemed much the same, clean and boring. At times Pygmy skipped a few steps, humming under her breath and ignoring the humans she passed by. She wasn't meant for Syliras.

"Hey, Red?" She preferred her nickname for him, it seemed. "Where are you from? You stand out as much as I do. We're almost there, by the by."

[Amon]

“Lead the way.” She was far more spunky and entertaining that Amon couldn’t help but feel light-hearted and at ease, even amongst foreign people and walking through a foreign city. All in all, the whole experience was turning out to not be as bad as he would have thought. He assumed that such places were riddled with thieves and hooligans running amok, but indeed, Syliras was clean, with knights stationed at many locations throughout the city, ever watchful. Not that Amon meant to do anything crime related. He merely found it interesting, staring as he passed by each individual dressed in formidable armor. But here Pygmy addressed him again as they leisurely walked to their destination. He quirked a brow, “I thought you said it did not matter, little Pygmy, where I was from. And now you want to know? So indecisive.” He grinned, “I’m from Wind Reach, far to the west in Kalea.” And how he missed it. There was something stirring in his heart as he spoke of his homeland, the pride that both he and Sakima felt equally. “We raise falcons and ride wind eagles as our companions and our best friends. I may look different here but there you would see many red-haired people just as myself.” Then a pause as he looked the younger girl over. “And you? Where do you come from if not from Syliras?” He came to a stop when he noticed a sign hanging from a pole protruding from the wall, with a picture that indicated an eatery. He glanced at Pygmy, “Is this it?”

[Dhanya]

Pygmy thought back on their conversation and remembered that what Amon had said was indeed true. What she thought he had yet to realise was that their situation had changed quite drastically.

"That was before you said you were gonna buy me dinner, you can't hold me to that." She said, waving her hand and smiling as if this were, in fact, obvious. "Food-givers are worth knowing about."

Exploitative but incredibly forthright. She hadn't yet figured politeness outside of the formal sphere. There were planks that were less blunt.

"See, it doesn't matter where I'm from because I'm not buying dinner. Yes, this is it." She smiled, dodging the question.

She didn't think it was a safe question to answer. For all she knew, word might get around. She wasn't going back to Zeltiva to be sold to a creepy, grabby man. Fuck that, as she thought to herself every day, fuck that.

She pushed the door open so that Amon could carry his package through, even if politeness would have dictated that he open the door for her. Pygmy still had her old rules stuck inside her head. She liked being the first inside, she could smell the sweet potato roasting. It was a warm room with a fire burning in the corner, almost empty at such an early hour. A few old men sat in the corner, drinking pints and recalling grander days.

Pygmy sat down at a table that gave her a view of the window, clearly choosing it specially. She had come to think of it as her own table, someone had carved a turtle into the middle of it. She had privately named the turtle "Iain."