Completed The Hills are Alive (Black, Aoren)

[Black Onyx]

Her brown eyed gaze watched the male strode forth with his loyal dog beside him, at this, her ears pricked forth with interest. Dogs mostly annoyed her because they just barked so much and while she was out working, they would more than often give away her position because they had better hearing than humans. A fact that constantly annoyed the equine. The sudden production of wind and water had her lifting her head up high, watching as they seemed to combine to make ice. The only kind of magic that Black had seen before was Jadlin and what he called leeching as he had drained the energy of a man before her. She had also seen someone throw fireballs, as well, but that was all she had ever seen in the ways of magic. So to see a different element in use, was amazing, especially with the way that the two combined to make a different one. The young equine didn’t know what this type of magic was, just that it had to be some kind of magic. When the man turned back to them, he seemed different and he walked with a limp. A snort came from the horse as suddenly it was Jadlin’s turn to do his thing and she watched as he fired off some more arrows.

Black was starting to come to the conclusion that learning archery was most definitely a waste of time, it couldn’t even fell a Yukman, as the stranger had explain. The equine then spotted a Yukman rise up behind Jadlin and a whinny came forth from her, only for Jadlin to realize too late and it grasped him around the throat. Black knew then that she would have to deal with the other Yukman for she was sure that Jadlin would now do this magic thing. With a snort, she cantered towards the Yukmen with the arrows sticking out of its chest. Her shoulder smacked into it, sending it stumbling off to the side and behind as she slowed to a stop. She would wait for a moment for the Yukman to rise and then start after her, waiting for it to get close. Once it had, she snorted and lowered her head, her back legs kicking out to hit the Yukman in the chest. The Yukman fell back to the ground and as soon as her hind legs had fallen back to the earth so then she was on all four feet, she turned to face the Yukman, trotting closer. Once she was close enough, she reared up onto her hind legs, before she brought her front legs down upon the throat of the Yukman. She felt the blood splatter up onto her hooves and she tossed her head as she half reared again, before she settled back onto all fours, backing up away from the Yukman.

Lifting her head, she spotted the Yukman that Jadlin had been dealing with, crumble before her eyes. With another snort, her ears flickered backwards as she looked to the stranger seated under the tree with the head of his dog in his lap. She couldn’t smell any more danger and the stranger wanted to talk to Jadlin, not her. So, she decided to go fetch their things, turning away from the two, well three, if you count the dog and trotted off towards the direction of their ruined picnic. She had begun to feel crowded and she didn’t like those that she didn’t trust, however the stranger had saved them, so she couldn’t really not fully trust him. Upon reaching the site of the picnic, she spotted the scattered items and she shook her head. She began to shift, a pale grey light surrounding her equine form and she felt herself borrowing her human form. Once the light faded away, she shook her bloodied hands with a look of disgust falling upon her facial features. This was not exactly how she saw the day going, however, at least Jadlin got in some practice with the bow. Having spotted her scattered clothing items, she set about gathering them up so then she could dress herself.

[Aoren]

Seeing the yukman rise up from the ground caused a note of panic to flare in Aoren’s chest. He gripped his staff tightly shifting to get to his feet. The flare to call upon his reimancy, to hurl another stream of fire at the creature to finish the job rose up in him. He was already reaching for his djed when something stopped him. Jadlin was in the way. The fire would burn him too. Coupled with the young man’s reaction brought Aoren to pause before he even conjured his Res. What was more curious was the fact that instead of trying to break the yukman’s hold on his neck, Jadlin grabbed him and seemed to be leaning into the touch. Half a chime later the creature was beginning to crack, to crumble and immediately Aoren’s eyes narrowed.

“Leecher.”

The word slithered across Aoren’s consciousness. With mild revulsion he regarded the young man from a distance as he untangled himself from the broken pieces of the earth spawn. Aoren had seen a Leecher in action before. He even knew a little about the guiding principles governing the magic. It struck him as a dark, toxic and abominable art. What neutral opinion Aoren once had of Jadlin was replaced with a stroke in the negative direction.

“Would it have been so bad to throw the fireball after all?” A small voice spoke that thought in the back of Aoren’s mind. He very nearly agreed with it before the wrongness of the statement struck him. He was a Healer. An oathsworn guardian of life and rejuvenation. While visiting death upon the mindless ramshackle creatures known as yukmen was forgiveable, Jadlin was a human. He was a living, breathing, thinking man. Who was Aoren to make such a judgment call? Still, the revelation that Jadlin was a Leecher did not sit well with Aoren. It did not sit well with him at all.

Aoren ran his hand through Isikai’s fur gently. His thoughts were troubled even as he watched the black horse trample the remaining yukman to death. With a sigh he closed his eyes briefly and just listened. The feel of imminent danger had abated. There was no more gurgling grumble of monsters creeping through the stoic woods. When he opened his eyes they came to rest on Jadlin. The horse it seemed had trotted off but Aoren was beginning to suspect that there was more to that steed than met the eye. Hissing with effort he braced himself with his staff pulling his body into a standing position. He leaned heavily upon the sturdy quarterstaff as he made his way over to the young man.

“You are hurt.” The nudge of his gnosis was the only proof of that fact that Aoren needed. The opalescent sheen of the godsmark on the right side of his face would be evident for Jadlin to see. Isikai lingered close. The dog watched Jadlin’s movement warily even emitting a small growl that was only silenced when Aoren touched a hand to the canine’s head.

“Give me your hand.” Aoren offered no more than that as he moved the hand from petting Isikai to Jadlin. With palm upturned to the sky Aoren simply waited. Cobalt eyes studied the young man carefully. He didn’t want to touch Jadlin but he couldn’t leave the young man’s injuries untreated.

[Jadlin Hayes]

After seeing that Black had trampled the last Yukman, Jad looked around to see if any more were breaking through the brush. Seeing nothing, he turned to be sure of where Black and the newcomer were, and if any more of the monstrosities may have been hidden by rises in the level of the ground. The stories he had heard of these creatures always suggested huge hordes of them. He was greatly relieved to see that this was not borne out by the number that had beset them. He chalked it up to exaggeration, a tactic he himself had indulged in on more than one occasion. Black now appeared to be heading back in the direction of their ill-fated picnic setting, and the djed wielder was in the same basic spot, though he was now standing. He was also gripping his staff and looking right back at Jad. Knowing he had just displayed his Leeching ability, Jad was apprehensive about the reaction this man might respond with. He stood uneasily as the man approached. Just like stories of Yukmen had some consistencies, there was a consistent disdain held by most mages towards Leechers. He felt a sting of shame at the use of his instinctive magic defense, which immediately triggered resentment that he should be compelled to feel such shame. It was a common enough pattern, that shame, followed by resentment towards those that were the indirect source of it. It only served to emphasize a different shame, that he should be putting blame on others for his own self-loathing over the use of his magic. Then, a new resentment toward those nameless elders of bygone days that had long established a cultural stigma upon any practitioners of it. He recognized the beginning of this classic cycle of brooding, and took a deep purging breath. It did no good to fall into this pattern again. He decided he would not put words in this mage's mouth, or prejudices in his attitude. Perhaps he felt the same way Jad did; that the tainting effect of absorbing foreign djed was punishment enough; that ALL magics were capable of misuse and evil; that any man of fair heart would only use a magic that poisoned his own body when he absolutely HAD to; and that being attacked by freaks like these earth-men constituted such an event. Of course, all this ran through his mind in a flash. This was largely due to the number of times his thoughts had run this course. He held his ground uneasily as the mage stepped closer. While the man looked to have doubts about him, it appeared he was wiling to give him the benefit of those doubts. The mage took no action other than commenting that Jad was hurt. It took Jad a moment to register the point of the mage's comment. 'Hurt?...Where?' he puzzled. Even as he started looking himself over for signs of an injury, he recalled the old man's dog that had bitten his hand. But that had been near ten days ago. Had the strain of this fight reopened that wound? Was it the lacerations resulting from the irons of his incarceration at the Wave Guard headquarters? Had he hurt himself when he took his tumble from Black's back? Had the Yukman he Leeched mauled him somewhere in its panic? Even as he used the process of elimination to narrow the possibilities, an odd shining sigil on the side of the mage's face caught Jad's attention. He did not know what it signified, and a spike of defensive fear stabbed his heart. Was he a member of some cult like the Sagallius worshipers Jad had been forced to serve for the bulk of his life? The man's canine companion did not ease this suspicion with its growl, but the man put a hand to its head and it grew obediently quiet. The man's reaction to his dog's behavior, and the dog's reaction to his master's unspoken instruction, was reassuring. "Give me your hand." the mage said to him clearly, extending his own, palm up. Jad hesitated a moment, took one last look around for Black, and brought up the hand that corresponded to the one extended by the mage. "You've come a long way to find me, sir..." Jad began, "...and put yourself in considerable danger...seemingly on my behalf...You know my name, but I do not know you...Were you sent by someone else, or is this your own mission?"

[Black Onyx]

After she had found her clothes scattered everywhere within the clearing, she had briefly been worried that her dagger had been taken, but it had simply been snagged on a bush and she pulled it free, slipping her belt back around her form. She sighed softly as she found the basket and righted it, she opened the flap to place the blanket inside after she had wiped her bloodied hands upon it. She didn’t exactly want to be reminded of the fact that she had killed a couple of yukmen. The creatures had looked human and it made it a little hard for her to not be reminded that she had killed them regardless. It would seemed that death would follow her, no matter where she went and a sigh fell across her lips. There wasn’t exactly much that she could recover from the picnic especially food wise. She shook her head as she spotted the bottle of wine, well, what was left of it anyway, as the bottle had been broken. She angled her head slightly to the right as her brown gaze eyed the broken bottle before shaking her head and turning back to the basket, closing the flap on it.

Black picked up the basket and began to walk back towards where the men had been left behind. Having to gather up the items wasn’t exactly a time consuming task considering that mostly everything else had been destroyed from the yukmen. She wrinkled up her nose at the thought of the creatures before she sighed once again. It was a lovely picnic that had just turned sideways, it had been the only time that she had been out of the city since she was young and it had been ruined. She decided then and there that she didn’t want to ever go back out into the wilds, it just ruined perfectly good moments such as a lovely picnic. She paused for a moment and turned to view the direction that the picnic had been in. It did have a lovely view of Zeltiva and its port, maybe and that was a big maybe, she might return, if only for a moment to enjoy the lovely view once again. She bit down upon her bottom lip as she remembered Jadlin and turned to walk back towards him. He was with the man that had helped them and while she was relieved about that fact, she didn’t fully trust him.

Upon reaching the area where the two were, she paused in her footsteps as her gaze watched Jadlin place his hand into the strange man’s hand. A frown creased her features at this and she seriously began to wonder as to what the hell was going on. It seemed strange to her, but she looked at Jadlin, her gaze flickering over his form to make sure that he wasn’t fatally injured by the mage. She didn’t exactly know how she should proceed, so instead, she fell back onto her usual defensive behaviour when there was a stranger around. Sarcasm. ”Well this looks cozy, luckily I picked up the blanket, maybe we could have a three-some or something.” She chuckled softly as she leaned her shoulder against the trunk of a random tree, keeping her distance a little for she was still weary of the mage. He had demonstrated power, power that made her edgy and she wondered just what else he could do. ”I would say that we still had wine to share, but it seems that the deceased decided to have a party of their own before they decided to drop dead.” Her brown eyed gaze wearily eyed their hands that were clasped, she wouldn’t do anything just yet, but she was ready to help just in case Jadlin needed her to.

[Aoren]

As Jadlin’s hand came to rest in Aoren’s the gnosis mark on the right side of his face came to life. What scrapes, bumps and slashes Jadlin might have received from getting flung from a horse in addition to getting partially choked by a Yukman, would be gently soothed by the healing light of Rak’keli. The warmth and presence of the Goddess flowed from the connection Aoren shared passing into the young Leecher washing away small fatigue working to alleviate those things that were within the marks power. When the healer had done what he could he released Jadlin’s hand studying him for a moment.

Aoren was about to answer the young man’s questions when the sound of footsteps reached his ears. He looked up to regard a brown eyed young woman dressed in black. Her lewd remark stirred no reaction out of the Drykas other than a cursory glance he gave her. Her appearance confirmed what Aoren had suspected. The woman was either a very gifted Morpher or she was a Kelvic. He was prone to believing the latter of the two. Regardless he chose not to comment on her remark instead directing his attention back to Jadlin. Isikai seated himself next to Aoren. He was grateful for the dog’s companionship given how tired he felt at the moment. Resting a hand atop the canine’s head he threaded his fingers through the dog’s fur.

“You may call me, Aoren. I am the Seer tasked with uncovering links to the Mage Silencer. Your recent trial was brought to my attention. In light of recent events I have an interest in the thugs that were involved in the initial incident where you were accused.” Adjusting his grip on his staff Aoren looked between Jadlin and the young woman. He let that thought sink in for a few moments before pushing forward.

“I know that you were released. I know some of what transpired during the lead up to your trial. What I want to hear, what I want to know are things from your perspective. I could peer into the folds of your past but that wouldn’t help me understand what you felt without careful and lengthy study.” Aoren sighed heavily before running a hand through his sandy blonde hair. He closed his eyes for a moment thinking on what he knew about the case thus far. When he opened them he gestured back in the direction of the city.

“Perhaps we should take this conversation back to the city? I don’t know about you but I am not exactly keen on encountering more of the Yukmen.” Not truly waiting for either of them to follow along he turned on a heel. Leaning heavily on his staff he began to make his way back toward Zeltiva. The wilderness was already a dangerous place and he was in no condition to deal with anything else. Glancing over his shoulder he studied both Jadlin and his female companion.

“Of course you could always just go your own way.” He shrugged a shoulder. Neither Jadlin nor his companion were under any obligation to follow him or answer his questions. He could still find the answers he sought it would just take longer and careful observation of the Chavi. One way or the other he would get to the bottom of this investigation as the clues were pieced together.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad tensed with the man's mention of his recent trial, though nothing the man had done suggested any ill intent. If anything, the cool wash of healing, spreading through his various abrasions, bruises and scrapes, suggested quite the opposite. Jad found himself impressed that this man possessed healing skills as well as impressive destructive skills. It did not occur to him that it could be a divinely-endowed ability. The mage named himself "Aoren", a name which held no familiarity, neither from general day to day life, nor from any events of the trial. Jad could only assume that Aoren had contacted the tribunal after his acquittal. He was set largely at ease after Aoren explained his take on what he was pursuing by making contact here and now. Jad felt somewhat ashamed to admit to himself the brief instant of fear that this man had been dispatched by the tribunal to eliminate an embarrassment. If he had wanted to, he clearly could have. Jad walked over to put his arm around Black. It seemed pointless not to confirm the relationship he had with the Kelvic. He did not, however, feel compelled to confess that she had also been present on East Street that day. He would wait to see if the mage asked for that confirmation, or if Black volunteered it, or neither, in which case it would remain unsaid. "I have no objection at all to giving you what details I can recall. And I agree that a less stressful location would most likely be helpful." He looked around as if there were more approaching. "I keep expecting to hear more of that weird chuckling noise those...things...make. 'Yukmen', you said? That is what they are called? I'd heard about some such creatures before, but I never actually heard them called anything but 'earth freaks and brutes." He gathered up what arrows were nearby, writing off the mizas he'd spent on this ill-fated picnic. He felt a genuine loathing to enter the meadow again. He did not really care to leave the dishes and bowls lying there, but he suddenly got an overpowering sense that the very ground itself wished him gone and preferred the litter to his presence. But he remembered one other consistent element in the few accounts of Yukmen he'd heard, "Shouldn't we destroy the bodies? Burn them, or chop them up, or something. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to Leech any more of them. It actually made me feel sick to do that one. Then we can go back to town."

[Black Onyx]

Black was silent throughout the whole affair, listening to the words that were spoken and her brown hues settled upon Jadlin, pressing her lips tightly together. He had not told her about a trial, he hadn’t even told her that he had been accused with anything. Slowly, she drew in a breath, letting the simple breath to calm her a little. Once she had exhaled she moved to slowly stand from her leaning position against the trunk of the tree and rubbed her hands against the legs of her pants. She had wiped most of the blood off of her hands, but there was still dried blood upon her hands and it made her feel slightly sick. While she had gotten used to the idea of death, especially after her parent’s own death, but that didn’t mean that she enjoyed killing creatures and wearing it afterwards. The young equine could most definitely see that she would have to stop by the bathhouse after they had finished speaking with this man named Aoren, the so-called Seer. She didn’t know much about seers, nor did she know much about those that could heal or throw things such as ice and fire. What she did know however, was that it made her feeling uneasy about not knowing about such things.

However, that was not the current issue at the moment, Jadlin had been arrested and she hadn’t known about it, nor had Jadlin told her about it. He had been arrested because of that event on East Street? Why then, had she not been arrested as well, especially considering that she had also been on that street. She could have been considered an accomplice, seeing as the charges that Jadlin had faced, had been charges that had been for the Mage Silencer. Her gaze turned to Aoren before she looked back to Jadlin, a frown settling upon her facial features. She shifted the basket to her other arm when Jadlin had slipped an arm around her form and she leaned into him, that was until he went off to gather a few arrows. ”Come on Jadlin, lets go I’m sure your new friend would prefer to get moving.” And with that, she reached out to gently grasp Jadlin’s hand and tug him along after Aoren. Her voice had been soft, but she knew that even if Jadlin hadn’t heard her, that her grasp and the tugging along would most definitely be a good indication that she wished to be moving along.

The young equine was still frowning over the words that had been exchanged and she just didn’t understand as to why Jadlin had not spoken to her about it. The footsteps back to Zeltiva were quick, almost as she was in a hurry to get away from the scene behind them. In truth, she tended to pace pretty quickly whenever something was on her mind. Or, she would stand upon the Docks watching the sun either rise or fall. However, the Docks were not close by and so she would have to just simply pace. She kept her gaze drawn downwards and her breathing was also paced. Her mind kept going over and over about how Jadlin might have felt, he must have felt alone… She knew that she would have felt alone if she had been thrown into prison. Prison was something that every thief knew that they faced and Black knew that even she would eventually go to prison, it was inevitable, especially considering with what she did for a living. However, it was Jadlin that had done prison time and she felt so guilty that she had not known. That she had been completely clueless to his incarceration. Why...? Why had you not told me Jadlin?

[Aoren]

Whether Black and Jadlin accompanied him or not Aoren continued on his way to the city. He had no more desire to linger in the forest that surrounded Zeltiva. If anything he could inform the Wave Guard that a group of the earthspawn had been found. It was to them that Aoren would entrust the task of culling any more of the monstrosities should they rise. It was after all, part of their job as guardians of the city. His steps were slow but steady. He had not the energy to move at a quickened pace at that point in time. Isikai stayed near almost shepherding Aoren in the direction of the city. The Drykas was thankful for the guidance. He cast a glance over his shoulder in the direction of the two supposed lovers upon hearing their footsteps.

“You should know that you have nothing to fear from me.” He made the statement regardless of what they might feel personally. Aoren was not out to deal out death and judgment. He was merely an interpreter of facts at this point in the investigation and the University and city authorities had entrusted him with the freedom to collect as many as possible. Adjusting his grip on his staff so that his steps were more comfortable he sighed heavily. He would have to pay a visit to the Infirmary to get himself patched up. The healers there were not going to be happy. As one of the healers in the employ of the city they would no doubt be a little finicky about one of their own having been injured.

“Tell me about that day. The day you were confronted with those who first accused me. What drove the initial encounter? Why did they throw out that wild accusation?” From over his shoulder he cast Jadlin a sidelong glance. There was no judgment in his gaze but there was reservation. The fact that the young man was a Leecher still did not sit well with Aoren. No matter how unbiased he tried to live his life there were some things that he simply did not agree with. That particular brand of magic happened to be one of them. Still, he was curious what had driven the young man to pick up such a practice. From the look of him and from what he’d gathered about the young man so far, he didn’t seem like the nefarious sort to gallivant about draining defenseless people of their strength to feed his own mad desires.

“And what was your part in the encounter?” He directed his attention to Black. The young woman had not truly come up in the bulk of his investigation but there was no harm in seeing what her involvement with Jadlin was. It was obvious they were intimate but had she been directly related to the incident driving his near conviction of being the Mage Silencer? Aoren was indeed a Seer but even with the gift of Avalis he often had to sit and contemplate what it was that he Saw. Visions of the past were presented from the perspective of the Chavi he divined. That didn’t necessarily always correlate to them being the absolute truth. Several perspectives had to be considered before he could reach a conclusion.

[Jadlin Hayes]

Jad had to acknowledge that the healing Aoren had extended his way helped support the claim that he was no threat. "I'm glad to hear that. I can imagine having much to fear were it otherwise. So, if I understand correctly, you were already assigned this task, prior to my trial. I don't know what you are permitted to reveal, but I feel sort of personally involved now. I didn't arrive in town until the sixty...fifth, I think it was." He continued walking as he paused to think back. "Yeah...the sixty-fifth. I came here on 'Bethany's Badge', a pinnace out of Syliras. I had already been through a trial there. I was an...unwitting...member of a Sagallius cult. I was never an actual member. I'm not really even sure who this Sagallius is. I assume he's a god of evil of some sort. Really, I was born to be a djed source for their mages. It was this use, I guess, that "conditioned" me to learn Leeching. I suppose that's why they decided to train me in that...craft. They used their foul gnosis talents, and hypnosis to keep me so confused...I never relly knew anything different. You know, I really have no proof that my name is Jadlin Hayes. That's just what they called me. I don't really know my age or birth day." He didn't know how much back history Aoren wanted, or if this seemingly unrelated stuff might mean something to him that Jad himself was completely unaware of. But the mage made no indication that he should hurry, and they had a long walk ahead of them. So he described how he'd been found to be an innocent victim, and set free. More important though, was the woman called as an expert at the trial. "She had something called 'The Lykata'?" he said this last as a question. "Everyone took this 'Lykata' to be truth, and it was what proved me to to have been used this way since birth, so I can hardly think ill of it. It was also what led me here and established my name to me. You see, she took me aside and gave me this ring..." He held his hand so Aoren could see it. It was nothing more than a large block-type 'M'. "She said it was 'supposed to be mine', I'm not really sure how she determined that, but again, I was not about to question her. Now that I am free of those mages, I KNOW that I want nothing to do with such people. And since she said that this Lykata told her the same thing about me, I am inclined to believe her." He chuckled with just a tremble of relief. "So yeah, she said to come to Zeltiva. That my family was here, and that this ring belonged to my father, that he was a sailor, and that his name started with an 'M'. So I got a list from the Sailor's guild, of members from twenty years ago, with names starting with 'M', and started knocking on doors." He described how he decided to employ a systematic circular route to check off names, and how it eventually led to East Street. He had felt it prudent to go into such an area armed, though it was sheath-tied and blunted. A pair of men had confronted him threateningly, refusing to let him pass unless he surrendered his weapon. "Looking back, I suppose I could have been a bit less sarcastic with my refusal, but when I found myself suddenly surrounded, four-to-one, I challenged their right to claim such authority over a public street. And their comments gave me reason to believe that disarming myself would not save me." He did not know if this Aoren was aware of Black's participation at this time, but figured it was likely. Nonetheless, he did not volunteer this detail. "I really didn't want to fight these men. And there was another pair that were ready to join in, if necessary. So I tried to bluff them, basically. I did a couple quick tricks with Projection, then took what I guessed they'd assume to be a "casting" pose and announced myself as a worshiper of Sagallius, uh...'One of the Faithful', I think I said. I remembered how shocked and horrified the people at the trial in Syliras had been, and how twisted and evil the accused men were when they were revealed, making threats and ghastly promises of death and destruction, I figured it would back these men down...and it did. Of course, using Leeching on one of them added a great deal of shock to my act." He paused again in thought. "I'm...not really sure...who first said 'Mage Silencer', in this fracas. But I grabbed it with both hands and and threw it into my bluff as well...So, even though I was outraged at first for the tactics the tribunal used on me, I came to realize I pretty much brought it on myself. But I remember them saying that I killed that man I Leeched on East Street. And I know I didn't. I debilitated him, yes, but I did NOT kill him...It could be very revealing to find out who did." Jad looked down and away, avoiding Aoren's eyes for a moment. "I...uh...don't really want to describe how you know when you've...gone that far...But you know...There was another time I used Leeching. A cranky old man sicced his dog on me, when I asked him to identify the unique aspects of my ring. He was trying to take it, and got all pissed off and sicced his dog on me. His dog would not relent, and the old man would not call it back, so I Leeched it until it yelped and ran. I know there were witnesses. I had thought at the time that this would stand in my FAVOR. But it seemed they were witnesses against me instead. There were also a few times I shouted down similar confrontations with the word 'Silence'. I find it a little hard to believe that this would be held as evidence of my being the 'Mage Silencer', but I guess you never know."

[Black Onyx]

Black fumed within the inside as Jadlin began to address the Aoren's questions with details. Slowly, she grinded her teeth firmly together as she walked behind the man, thoughts swirling within her mind. Not only was she confused about why Jadlin hadn’t told her about this incarceration, he had lied. Why didn’t he tell her about it? Why didn’t he just tell her the truth of why he had been missing? Why couldn’t he just tell her this? Instead, he was telling this stranger about the whole ordeal, when Jadlin had told her that he had helped them, not that they imprisoned him. The young equine actually refused to look at her bondmate, as she tried to work out why. The word echoed inside of her mind while Jadlin’s words also seemed to mix in with it all. Did he not trust her enough because she was a thief? Did he think that she was one of those that had accused him to be the ’Mage Silencer?’ Her nostrils flared at this and she wanted nothing more than to demand an answer, but she didn’t want to cause a scene in front of Aoren, or ever. Even though she was angry, angry at Jadlin, she was also hurt, hurt that the man she was falling for, felt that he couldn’t tell her about this major event that happened in his life.

Her lips would then pressed tightly together as she held back the urge to demand an answer, an answer that she so desperately wanted to know. Why? The word finally echoed inside her own head with a tinge of sadness to it. She just couldn’t work out why and so the word stuck inside of her mind while it replayed over and over as if the word was on repeat. She lifted her gaze then, only to peer over her shoulder and look back the way that they had come from. The young equine did this so then to make sure that no yukmen were following them. Although, she would probably hear and smell them before they reached them, for they stunk as if they had never dipped a toe into a river or something. Black turned her thoughts then to the strange creatures so then that she didn’t have to dwell upon the anger and hurt that her bondmate had caused. Why had those creatures attacked? In fact, how had they sensed where the two were before Black had even sensed the creatures? It puzzled her, for she could still scent the yukmen’s scent on her hands even though she had wiped off most of the blood from them.

Suddenly Jadlin seemed to be finished speaking and she angled her head back to the man walking in front of them. She then remembered that he had asked about her part in the encounter. Her shoulders lifted and fell in a simple shrug, she wasn’t sure as to whether she should just simply tell the truth or skirt around it altogether, tell a lie. Her brown hues watched the man for a moment before she decided to enlighten him with an answer. An answer that was a part lie and part truth. ”I honestly cannot tell you much at all, for I do not know much.” She turned her gaze away from the man to view the passing shrubbery while her nostrils flared with the anger and hurt that dwelled within. ”I was simply an observer of the whole event, for my skills do not really involve physical combat.” Which was true to an extent, she didn’t know much about fighting, but she knew enough to give her a slight advantage against her potential targets should one ever go chasing after her. Even then though, it didn’t mean that she would get out of the situation pain free. Her brown hues viewed the man once more before she shrugged again, ”Magic isn’t really my forte so I cannot comment too much about it all.”

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